THE  DISINTiCI- /ai 
OF  ISLAM 


SAMUEL  M.ZV/EMER. 


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THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 


By 
S.  M.  Zwemer,  F.  R.  G.  S. 


Mohammed  or  Christ,  illustrated,  net  ji.so 

Introduction  by  Rt.  Rev.  C.  H.  Stileman^  M.  A.^  somttimt 

Bishop  of  Persia 
An  account  of  the  rapid  spread  of  Islam  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe,  the  methods  employed  to  obtain  proselytes,  its 
immense  press,  its  strongholds,  and  suggested  means  to  be 
adopted  to  counteract  the  evil. 

The  Disintegration  of  Islam,  illustrated. 

xamo,  cloth -         net  $1.25 

Dr.  Zwemer  traces  the  collapse  of  Islam  as  a  political 
power  in  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa,  as  well  as  the  inevitable 
effect  of  the  impact  of  Western  civilization. 

Childhood  in  the  Moslem  World. 

Illustrated,  8vo,  cloth,        ...       -       -        net  82.00 
Both  in  text  and  illustrations.  Dr.  Zwemer's  new  book 
covers  much  ground  hitherto  lying  untouched  in  Moham- 
medan literature. 

Arabia  :  The  Cradle  of  Islam.    Maps 

and  numerous  Illustrations,  cloth       -        .       -      net  $2.00 
"  The  comprehensive  scope  of  the  volume  covers  a  wide 
range  of  interest,  scientific  and  commercial,  historical  and 
literary,  sociological,  religious." — Outlook. 


By  A.  E.  and  S.  M.  Zwemer 
Zigzag  Journeys  in   the    Camel 

Cnti'uf'V'M        Arabia  in  Picture  and  Story.    Illustrated, 
country.      xamo,  doth  -         -        -         net  51.00 

"  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Zwemer  are  charming  guides.    We  com« 
mend  the  book  highly  for  interest  and  information." 

—Missionary  Review  of  the  World, 

TopSy-Turvy  Land.  Arabia  Pictured  for  Chil- 
dren. Illustrated,  lamo,  cloth  ...  net  .75. 
"  A  book  of  pictures  and  stories  for  big  children  and  small 
grown-up  folk,  for  all  who  love  Sinbad  the  Sailor  and  his 
strange  country."— Bojfow  Globe. 


MAIN   MINARET   OF   EL  AZHAR   MOSQUE,    CAIRO. 

El  Azhar  University  dates  from  the  time  of  ttie  Fatimids.  The  original 
mosque  was  built  by  Jauhar  in  972  a.d.  It  is  said  to  have  about  10,000 
students  and  a  library   of  19,000   volumes. 


STUDENTS'  LECTURES  ON  MISSIONS 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  MCMXV 

THE  DISINTEGRATION 
OF  ISLAM 


BY 

SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  F.R.G.S. 

AijTHOR  OF 

Childhood  in  the  Moslem  World,"  **  Arabia,  the  Cradle  of 
Islam,"  "The  Moslem  Christ,"  **Zig-Zag  Journeys 
in  the  Camel  Country,"  "Topsy-Turvy  Land," 
etc.,  etc. 

ILLUSTRATED 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming   H.  Revell   Company 

London   and   Edinburgh 


(xiFLo 


Copyright,  1916,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


'  *«'lNe\tf  *Yortt  .jts^*."Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


THESE  lectures  were  delivered  in 
Miller  Chapel,  Princeton  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  October,  1915.  They 
were  subsequently  also  delivered  at  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  America,  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.;  and  at  the  Theological  Seminary 
of  the  American  Mission,  Cairo,  Egypt. 


39G687 


"The  harvest  is  not  benefited  by  confounding  weeds  with 
wheat.  Harmony  is  not  enhanced  by  a  premature  recourse  to 
synthesis,  before  due  scope  has  been  given  to  discriminating 
analysis.  God  is  not  honoured  by  attributing  to  His  causation 
what  He  only  overrules,  in  working  out  His  sovereign  designs. 
God  is  greater  in  permitting  the  exercise  of  free  action,  even 
if  opposed  to  His  own  will,  and  in  yet  finally  accomplishing 
His  purpose,  than  if  He  were  to  exercise  His  sovereignty  to  the 
extent  of  rendering  every  counter-current  impossible,  and 
monopolizing  the  whole  channel  of  history  by  the  unchecked 
flow  of  His  own  volition." — S.  W.  Koelle:  "Mohammed  and 
Mohammedanism." 

''^It  surely  is  altogether  false,  if  some,  in  modern  times, 
assert  that  Islam  has  a  mission  in  this  world,  namely,  of  serv- 
ing as  a  preparation  of  idolatrous  nations  for  the  faith  in  the 
one  true  God.  History  most  positively  contradicts  this  as- 
sertion. Islam  has  never  operated  to  prepare  the  way  for 
Christianity,  and  least  does  so  today." — C.  H.  Schabung  of 
Copenhagen. 


PREFACE 

From  hea/oen  fought  the  stars. 
From  their  courses  they  fought  against  Sisera. 
That  river  Kishon  swept  them  away,  4r 

The  ancient  river,  the  river  Kishon,  »i  \f^   »  ^ 

0  my  soul,  march  on  with  strength.  .  £,  V^  • 

—The  Song  of  Deborah.^udges  5:20-22.  7 

I  IKE  all  other  non- Christian  systems  and 
i  philosophies  Islam  is  a  dying  religion; 
from  the  outset  it  had  in  it  the  germs 
of  death — neither  the  character  of  the  Koran 
nor  of  its  Prophet  have  in  them  the  promise  or 
potency  of  life  that  will  endure.  Even  Carlyle, 
whose  **The  Hero  as  Prophet*'  is  often  quoted 
as  an  apology  for  Islam,  admitted  this.  In  his 
lecture  on  **The  Hero  as  Poet"  he  said:  **It 
was  intrinsically  an  error  that  notion  of 
Mahomet's,  of  his  supreme  Prophethood;  and 
has  come  down  to  us  inextricably  involved  in 
error  to  this  day;  dragging  along  with  it  such 
a  coil  of  fables,  iniquities,  intolerances,  as 
makes  it  a  questionable  step  for  me  here  and 
now  to  say,  as  I  have  done,  that  Mahomet  was 
a  true  Speaker  at  all,  and  not  rather  an  ambi- 
tious charlatan,  perversity  and  simulacrum ;  no 
Speaker,  but  a  Babbler !  Even  in  Arabia,  as  I 
compute,  Mahomet  will  have  exhausted  himself 
and  become  obsolete,  while  this  Shakspeare, 

7 


*   »  •    *    o  i  •:*■«     « 

§•  •*  ^'*** "  •  •: :"    ;     PREFACE 

this  Dante  may  still  be  young.  .  .  .  His 
Koran  has  become  a  stupid  piece  of  prolix 
absurdity;  we  do  not  believe,  like  him,  that  God 
wrote  that!" 

Moreover,  at  the  present  time  there  are  in 
Islam  many  evidences  of  decay.  In  1899,  a 
company  of  delegates  from  the  Moslem  world 
assembled  in  Mecca  and  gave  fourteen  days  to 
investigate  the  causes  for  the  decay  of  Islam. 
Fifty-seven  reasons  were  given,  including  fatal- 
ism, the  opposition  of  science,  the  rejection  of 
religious  liberty,  neglect  of  education  and  in- 
activity due  to  the  hopelessness  of  the  cause 
itself.  A  leading  Moslem  editor  in  India  wrote 
in  1914: — **We  see  that  neither  wealth  nor 
'education'  nor  political  power  can  enable  the 
Muslims  to  achieve  their  national  salvation. 
"Where  then  lies  the  remedy?  Before  seeking 
the  remedy  we  must  ascertain  the  disease.  But 
the  Muslims  are  not  diseased,  they  have  reached 
a  worse  stage.  A  diseased  man  has  still  life 
in  him." 

We  find  the  same  note  of  despair  in  the  recent 
volume  of  essays  by  an  educated  Indian  Mos- 
lem, S.  IQiuda  Bukhsh,  M.A.  He  speaks  of  the 
** hideous  deformity"  of  Moslem  society  and  of 
**the  vice  and  immorality,  the  selfishness,  self- 
seeking,  and  hypocrisy  which  are  corrupting  it 
through  and  through."  Those  who  live  among 
Moslems   and  read  Moslem  newspapers   and 


PREFACE  9 

books  are  more  and  more  surprised  that  Islam 
itself  is  not  conscious  of  its  strength  but  of  its 
weakness  and  decay,  and  that  everywhere  Mos- 
lems are  bemoaning  a  day  of  opportunity  that 
is  lost.  The  Moslem  pulpit  and  the  Moslem 
press  in  the  great  centres  of  Islam  unite  in  a 
wail  of  despair.  **0  ye  servants  of  God,''  said 
a  Cairo  preacher  last  year,  **the  time  has  come 
for  Moslems  to  look  after  their  affairs  and  to 
regard  their  religion  and  conduct  as  a  sick  man 
looks  toward  his  remedy  and  the  man  who  is 
drowning  toward  dry  land.'' 

Moslems  have  long  realized  that  the  dead 
weight  of  formality  called  tradition,  the  ac- 
cumulation of  many  centuries,  is  an  intolerable 
burden.  Frantic  efforts  have  been  made  in 
many  quarters  to  save  the  ship  by  throwing 
overboard  much  of  this  cargo.  Others  in  their 
despair  have  sought  for  a  new  pilot.  Messiahs 
and  Mahdis  have  arisen  and  founded  new  sects 
or  started  new  movements.  The  progress  of 
western  civilization  and  its  impact  has  been 
felt  everywhere  in  the  economic  and  social  life 
of  Islam.  We  must  add  to  all  this  the  utter 
collapse  of  Moslem  political  power  in  Africa, 
Europe,  and  Asia.  The  stars  from  their  courses 
are  fighting  against  Sisera,  and  the  future  is 
dark  for  those  who  believe  that  Islam  is  the 
hope  of  the  world.  We,  however,  believe  that 
when  the  crescent  wanes  the  Cross  will  prove 


10  PREFACE 

dominant,  and  that  the  disintegration  of  Islam 
is  a  divine  preparation  for  the  evangelization 
of  Moslem  lands  and  the  winning  of  Moslem 
hearts  to  a  new  allegiance.  Jesus  Christ  is 
sufficient  for  them  as  He  is  for  us.  **  When  that 
which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which  is  in  part 
shall  be  done  away." 

The  purpose  of  the  lectures  here  given  is 
distinctly  missionary,  and  in  setting  forth  the 
present-day  conditions  and  needs  of  these  mil- 
lions, many  of  whom  are  groping  toward  the 
light,  our  prayer  is  that  the  message  may  lead 
to  the  surrender  of  life  for  the  work  of  missions. 
From  all  the  seminaries  where  these  lectures 
were  given  a  number  of  graduates  have  already 
gone  to  the  forefront  of  the  battle  in  the  Moslem 
world,  in  Syria,  Persia,  India,  Arabia,  Egypt, 
North  Africa,  and  China.  Their  unfinished  task 
awaits  fulfilment. 

S.  M.  Z. 
Caibo,  Egypt. 


CONTENTS 

I.    The  Dead  Weight  op  Tradition  .  17 

II.    The  Revolt  and  Its  Failure  .  63 

m.    The  Political  Collapse         .  .  107 

IV.    The  New  Islam  :  Has  It  a  Future?  141 

V.    The     Present-Day     Attitude  to 

Christ  and  Christianity    .  .  181 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Main  Minaret  of  El  Azhar  Mosque,  Cairo  Frontispiece 

FAaNG 
PAGE 

Interior  of  Main  Court,  El  Azhar  University, 
Cairo 20 

Facsimile    Keproduction    of    a    Page    from    El 
Bokhari 28 

The  Ceremony  of  El  Dausa,  Cairo,  1880    .       .      38 

One  of  the  Prayer-Niches  (Mihrah)  of  El  Azhar      48 

Mosque    of    the    Prophet's   Tomb,    Interior,    El 
Medina 108 

Railway  Station  and  Terminus  of  the  Hejas  Rail- 
way, El  Medina 134 

Type  of  Modern  Moslem  School,  Nampalli,  India    152 

Portion  of  a  Curious  Diagram  Bridging  Chasm 
Between  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent .       •       •     176 

Mosque    of   the    Prophet's   Tomb,    Exterior,   El 
Medina .     214 

St.  David'i  Building,  Cairo,  1910  .       .      ,.       .     224 


I 

THE  DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION 


"The  entire  Dar  ul  Islam,  or  Islamic  community,  dis- 
united and  dismembered  for  generations,  has  now  sunk  into 
such  a  state  of  spiritual  torpor  and  political  impotence  that, 
apart  from  fitful  outbursts  of  fanaticism  and  spasmodic 
paroxysms  of  savagery,  any  serious  aggressions  against  Chris- 
tian nations  are  out  of  the  question,  and  the  signs  of  its 
approaching  complete  disintegration  are  rapidly  multiplying. 
If  in  some  far-off  places,  such  as  the  continent  of  Africa,  Islam 
has  of  late  been  spreading  to  some  extent;  this  has  been 
eflFected  by  the  notorious  means  of  its  propagandism,  and  can 
only  remind  one  of  those  sparse  green  twigs  sometimes  still 
appearing  at  the  extreme  ends  of  half-dried-up  boughs  in 
trees  whose  core  has  for  long  been  decaying  from  old  age." — 
S.  W.  KoELLB:  "Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism." 


THE    DEAD    WEIGHT    OF    TRADITION 

And  it  came  to  pass  the  same  night,  that  Jehovah 
said  unto  Mm,  Arise,  get  thee  down  into  the  camp; 
for  I  have  delivered  it  into  thy  hand.  But  if  thou 
fear  to  go  down,  go  thou  with  Purah  thy  servant 
dovm  to  the  camp:  and  thou  shalt  hear  what  they 
say;  and  afterward  shall  thy  hands  he  strengthened 
to  go  dovm.  into  the  camp. — Judges  7:  9-11. 

THE  yoke  of  Islam  is  not  easy  and  its  bur- 
den is  not  light.  A  religion  of  ritual 
and  outward  forms  always  demands 
punctilious  observance  from  its  devotees.  Its 
demands,  if  not  high  as  regards  moral  stand- 
ards, are  heavy  with  cumbrous  detail  and  con- 
stant repetition.  The  daily  round  and  common 
task  of  a  respectable  Britisher  in  London  would 
be  wholly  disarranged,  nay,  become  almost  im- 
possible, were  he  to  follow  the  religious  prac- 
tices laid  down  as  imperative  in  any  book  of 
Fiqh.  Yet  it  is  this  burden  of  outward  observ- 
ances and  rigorous  conformity  to  puerile  de- 
tail which  rests  on  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
Moslem  world,  and  which  David  Livingstone 
called  the  ''  dead  weight  *'  of  Islam.  Even 
those  who  have  great  hopes  that  Islam  can  be 

17 


18      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

reformed,  like  the  Dutch  scholar,  Professor  C. 
Snouck  Hurgronje,  admit  this.  In  his  lectures 
at  Columbia  University  he  said : 

**  Nothing  could  be  more  inconceivably  remote  than 
Mecca.  It  represents  the  Islam  of  centuries  ago.  The 
houses  are  impossible.  All  the  conveniences  to  which 
we  are  accustomed — flight,  heat,  water — are  as  they 
were  in  the  Dark  Ages.  But  one  who  has  not  been  to 
Mecca,  who  has  not  lived  there  in  Mohammedan  house- 
holds and  studied  at  the  Mosques,  cannot  understand 
Islam.  My  sojourn  in  Mecca  for  eight  months  was 
like  transposition  into  a  city  of  the  twelfth  or  thir- 
teenth century.'' 

Perhaps  ninety  per  cent  of  the  Moslem  world 
still  lives  under  such  conditions  in  this  Dark 
Age.  For  them  it  is  the  Age,  not  of  reformed 
Islam,  but  of  primitive  belief  and  practice.  The 
reformed  Mohammedan,  like  the  reformed  Jew, 
has  practically  discarded  the  religion  of  his 
fathers,  but  he  is  in  the  minority.  The  ortho- 
dox Moslem  is  still  bound  hand  and  foot  in  the 
grave  clothes  of  Tradition.  By  tradition  they 
understand  the  record  of  what  Mohammed  said 
and  did  or  allowed. 

What  the  Talmud  is  to  Judaism  that  tra- 
dition, i.e.,  the  hadith  or  sunna,  is  to  Moham- 
medanism. One  may  as  well  expect  to  know 
what  Christianity  in  Mexico  or  in  Spain  is  like 
by  a  careful  study  of  the  New  Testament  as  to 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        19 

learn  the  real  character  of  Islam  among  the 
masses  in  lands  like  Morocco,  Egypt,  and  China, 
from  the  text  of  the  Koran.  It  is  well  known 
that  orthodox  Moslems  speak  of  the  sources  of 
their  religion,  or  the  authorities  on  which  it  is 
based,  as  four :  the  Koran,  Tradition,  ijmd  and 
kiyas,  Ijmd  is  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
leading  companions  concerning  any  teaching 
based  on  the  Koran  or  on  tradition :  while  kiyas 
consists  of  deductions  made  by  orthodox  teach- 
ers concerning  questions  that  are  in  doubt,  by 
analogy,  or,  as  Moslems  express  it,  the  opinions 
of  the  learned  concerning  that  which  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  Koran  nor  tradition  by  the 
analogy  of  questions  that  are  mentioned.  The 
Koran  is  called  the  verbal  revelation  (Wahi  el 
Matlu) ;  tradition  is  called  Wahi  gheir  el  Matlu. 
The  first  thing  that  surprises  us  in  studying 
the  vast  subject  of  Moslem  tradition  is  the  im- 
mense number  of  collections  of  these  sayings 
of  the  Prophet.  There  are  said  to  be  1,465  col- 
lections of  traditions,  but  fortunately  only  six 
of  them  are  counted  classical  or  standard  by 
the  orthodox  school,  namely,  Muslim,  Bokhari, 
Tirmizi,  Abu  Daoud,  An-Nasaei,  and  Ibn  Ma- 
jah.  Abu  Daoud,  one  of  their  number,  states 
in  his  massive  work  that  he  received  as  trust- 
worthy only  4,800  traditions  out  of  500,000. 
Yet  these  traditions  have  the  highest  authority 
in  Islam.    According  to  Canon  Sell,  "  An  Or- 


20      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

thodox  Moslem  places  the  Gospel  in  the  same 
rank  as  the  Hadith ;  that  is,  he  looks  upon  them 
as  a  record  of  what  Jesus  said  and  did,  handed 
down  to  us  by  His  companions.''  There  is  not 
a  single  Moslem  sect,  Shiah  or  Sunni,  that  looks 
to  the  Koran  only  as  the  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice. Islam  has  never  had  a  real  Protestant 
movement  in  this  direction.  Not  only  are  the 
five  duties  of  pious  Moslems  carefully  de- 
scribed in  these  collections  of  tradition,  but 
their  whole  interpretation  of  the  creed,  of  juris- 
prudence, and  of  the  Koran  itself,  are  based  on 
its  authority. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  tradition  should  have 
had  such  power  in  the  conservative  East,  and 
especially  in  Arabia.  Even  before  the  Hejira, 
Goldziher  tells  us,  it  was  considered  a  virtue  to 
follow  the  sunna  of  one's  forefathers.  When 
Islam  came  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  follow 
the  customs  of  heathen  ancestors.  Every  be- 
liever now  took  the  conduct  of  the  Prophet  as  a 
model  for  himself  in  all  the  affairs  of  life.  First 
of  all,  they  followed  the  practice  of  the  Com- 
panions of  the  Prophet  who  had  themselves 
witnessed  his  actions  and  heard  his  words. 
Later  on  they  had  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
tahi'un,  or  successors;  in  following  genera- 
tions they  spoke  of  the  successors  of  the  suc- 
cessors. Every  tradition  accepted  by  Moslems 
necessarily  retains  this  form  of  personal  state- 


INTERIOR  OF  MAIN  COURT,   EL  AZHAR  UNIVERSITY,  CAIRO. 
Showing  the  dilapidated  condition  of  the  building. 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        21 

ment  and  consists  of  two  parts.  The  first  part 
is  called  the  isnad  or  support,  namely,  the  list 
of  names  on  which  the  tradition  is  based,  its 
pedigree.  The  second  is  called  the  matn,  or 
actual  text  of  the  tradition  quoted. 

Notwithstanding  the  severe  warning  given  by 
Mohammed  himself,  regarding  the  invention  or 
corruption  of  tradition,  many  spurious  tra- 
ditions have  been  handed  down.  Out  of 
40,000  persons  whose  names  are  recorded  in 
Moslem  books  as  handing  down  traditions,  Al- 
Bokhari  acknowledges  only  2,000  as  re- 
liable. Accordingly  nineteen-twentieths  of  these 
men  were  liars  in  his  opinion.  Moslem  criti- 
cism in  regard  to  this  course  of  authority  has 
been  from  the  outset  only  external,  and  has 
never  troubled  itself  about  the  text,  although 
in  a  measure  it  criticised  the  isnad,  or  list  of 
authorities.  Their  principle  of  criticism  even 
here  was  unsound,  for  they  were  most  particu- 
lar in  rejecting  all  doubtful  characters  of  the 
second  and  third  generation,  but  never  doubted 
the  veracity  of  the  Companions  of  the  Prophet. 
Abu  Huraira,  Ibn  Abbas,  and  Anas  bin  Malik 
are  the  chief  authorities  collected  in  Bokhari. 
According  to  Prince  Leone  Caetani  4,000  out 
of  the  7,000  traditions  are  referred  to  them. 
Yet  Ibn  Abbas  was  only  thirteen  years  old  when 
Mohammed  died,  and  how  could  he  remember  in 
detail  and  relate  at  random  thousands  of  tradi- 


22      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

tions  in  regard  to  the  public  and  private  life 
of  the  Prophet?  In  regard  to  Abu  Huraira, 
even  his  real  name  is  unknown  to  Moslems  and 
the  surname,  ** Father  of  the  Little  Cat,''  is 
supposed  to  have  been  given  him  on  account  of 
his  tenderness  to  cats.  He  is  said  to  have  had 
an  infallible  memory  and  died  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight.  The  inexhaustible  stock  of  his 
information  aroused  suspicion  as  to  his  trust- 
worthiness, even  among  Moslems.  Spranger 
calls  him  the  extreme  of  pious  humbug ;  but  we 
must  perhaps  defend  him  in  a  measure,  as  many 
of  his  sayings  were  attributed  to  him  by  later 
collectors  of  tradition.  As  for  Anas  ibn  Malik, 
according  to  his  own  statement  he  was  only  ten 
years  old  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Badr,  and 
died  at  Busrah,  some  say,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
seven  and  some  say  a  hundred  and  seven  years. 
His  reputation  as  a  traditionist  is  none  of  the 
highest,  and  Abu  Hanif a,  the  founder  of  one  of 
the  schools  of  theology  in  Islam,  refused  to 
acknowledge  his  authority.  If  this  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  three  leading  traditionists,  we  may 
judge  of  the  remainder,  who  came  after  them 
and  were  even  more  audacious  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  tradition. 

A  whole  science  of  so-called  criticism  of  the 
isnad  has  arisen  in  Islam.  With  reference  to 
the  character  of  those  who  handed  down  tradi- 
tions, they  are  classified  as  follows : 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        23 

Hadith-es-SaJiih,  a  genuine  tradition,  is  one 
which  has  been  handed  down  by  truly  pious 
persons  who  have  been  distinguished  for  their 
integrity:  Hadith-el-Hasan,  a  mediocre  tradi- 
tion, is  one  the  narrators  of  which  do  not  ap- 
proach in  moral  excellence  to  those  of  the  Sahih 
class;  Hadith-ed-Da^if,  a  weak  tradition,  is  one 
whose  narrators  are  of  questionable  authority. 

With  reference  to  the  original  narrators  there 
are  also  three  classes:  Hadith-el-Marfu,  an  ex- 
alted tradition,  is  a  saying  or  an  act,  related  or 
performed  by  the  Prophet  himself  and  handed 
down  in  a  tradition;  Hadith-el-Mauquf,  a,  re- 
stricted tradition,  is  a  saying  or  an  act,  related 
or  performed  by  one  of  the  ashah,  or  Compan- 
ions of  the  Prophet ;  Hadith-el-Maqtu  \  an  inter- 
sected tradition,  is  a  saying  or  an  act  related  or 
performed  by  one  of  the  Tahi'un,  or  those  who 
conversed  with  the  Companions  of  the  Prophet. 

Finally,  traditions  are  also  divided  according 
to  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  trans- 
mitted. Hadith-el-Mutawatir ,  an  undoubted 
tradition,  is  one  which  is  handed  down  by  very 
many  distinct  chains  of  narrators;  Hadith-el- 
'AziZy  a  rare  tradition,  is  one  related  by  one  or 
two  lines  of  narrators ;  Hadith-el-Gharih,  a  poor 
tradition,  is  one  related  by  only  one  narrator; 
Khahar-el-wahid,  a  single  saying,  is  a  term  also 
used  for  a  tradition  related  by  one  person  and 
handed  down  by  one  line  of  narrators.    It  is  a 


24      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

disputed  point  whether  a  Khobar  Wahid  can 
form  the  basis  of  Moslem  doctrine;  Hadith-el- 
Mursal  is  a  tradition  which  any  collector  of  tra- 
ditions, such  as  Al-Bokhari  and  others,  records 
with  the  assertion,  'Hhe  apostle  of  God  said'': 
Riwayah  is  a  hadith  which  commences  with  the 
words  ''it  is  related/^  without  the  authority 
being  given;  Hadith-el-Mauzu\  an  invented  tra- 
dition, is  one  the  untruth  of  which  is  beyond  dis- 
pute. This  did  not  prevent  its  preservation  and 
publication  however ! 

Because  of  such  careful  classification  no  Mos- 
lem who  considers  himself  orthodox  will  doubt 
any  statement  that  has  been  accepted  by  one 
of  the  six  great  authorities,  especially  Al- 
Bokhari.  He  even  uses  this  for  oath  like  the 
Koran.  To  what  extent  the  bondage  to  tradi- 
tion remains  can  be  judged  from  the  statement 
made  by  Sheikh  Feroz-ud-Din  Murad,  Assistant 
Professor  of  Physics  at  Aligarh  College,  India. 
One  would  think  that  a  scientist  should  have  a 
somewhat  critical  mind  even  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion. In  an  article  on  the  *  *  Precepts  and  Prac- 
tices of  the  Prophet  of  Islam,''  however,  he 
writes : 

**With  the  purest  of  intentions,  Imam  Bukhari  did 
his  best  to  criticize  dispassionately  and  calmly  the 
character  of  the  narrators  and  the  subject-matter  of 
the  Ahadis,  with  a  view  to  get  at  the  perfectly  genuine 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        25 

and  correct  AJiadis.  For  us  and  our  successors  the 
task  of  sifting  the  truth  about  Ahadds  has  been  very 
much  shorn  of  its  difficulties.  Believing  that  Sahih 
Bukhari  has  deservedly  secured  the  verdict  of  'the 
most  correct  book  next  to  the  Holy  Quran, '  our  duty 
is  always  to  keep  in  view  that  none  save  the  prophets 
of  God  are  innocent  and  free  from  errors,  and  then 
to  believe  in  the  truth  of  any  of  the  AJiadis  pro- 
nounced correct  by  Imam  Bukhari  only  so  long  as  we 
do  not  possess  solid  grounds  for  doubting  the  correct- 
ness of  his  investigation." 

At  the  great  Azhar  University  the  place  occu- 
pied by  the  study  of  tradition  is  characteris- 
tically supreme.  Nearly  one-half  of  their  large 
library  consists  of  collection  of  tradition  and 
commentaries  on  the  same.  Four  extensive 
commentaries  on  the  traditions  of  Al-Bokhari 
have  been  printed,  one  of  them  in  eleven  vol- 
umes. For  beginners  they  print  a  synopsis  of 
all  the  important  traditions,  and  these  popular 
manuals  have  a  large  circulation.  One  can  per- 
haps get  the  best  idea  of  Bokhari's  work  from 
the  table  of  contents  of  the  first  volume  of 
Houdas'  French  translation  (Paris,  1903): 

**1.  How  Mohammed's  Revelation  began. 

2.  Faith. 

3.  Science  (11m). 

4.  Ablutions. 

5.  Washings. 


26      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

6.  Menstruation. 

7.  Washing  with  Sand. 

8.  Prayer. 

9.  The  Hours  of  Prayer. 

10.  The  Call  to  Prayer. 

11.  Friday  Worship. 

12.  Prayers  in  Case  of  Danger. 

13.  The  Two  Moslem  Feasts. 

14.  Interrupted  Prayer. 

15.  Supplication. 

16.  Eclipses. 

17.  Prostrations  during  the  Reading  of  the  Koran. 

18.  On  the  Abridgment  of  Prayer. 

19.  Night  Prayer. 

20.  The  Benefit  of  Prayer  in  the  Mosque  at  Mecca. 

21.  Category  of  Acts  Permitted  during  Prayer. 

22.  Distractions  in  Prayer. 

23.  Funerals. 

24.  Alms. 

25.  Pilgrimage. 

26.  On  Visiting  Medina. 

27.  Hindrances  to  Pilgrimage. 

28.  The  Expiation  for  Wrong  Acts  during  the 
Pilgrimage. 

29.  The  Merits  of  Al-Medina. 

30.  Fasting. 

31.  Prayer  in  Ramadhan. 

32.  The  Excellence  of  the  Night  of  Destiny. 

33.  Spiritual  Meditation.'* 

So  much  for  the  first  volume  of  Al-Bokhari. 
The  other  volumes  deal  with  the  Moslem  Ritual 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        ^7 

and  Practice,  Military  Expeditions,  The  Inter- 
pretation of  the  Koran,  Marriage,  Divorce,  and 
kindred  subjects.  The  first  tradition  given  in 
Al-Bokhari  is  as  follows  and  may  be  considered 
typical  of  all  the  rest : 

El  Humaida  Abdullah  bin  Zubeir  related  to 
us  that  Sufyan  told  him  that  Yahya  bin  Saeed 
el  Ansari  said,  I  was  told  by  Mohammed  ibn 
Ibrahim  that  he  heard  Alkmah  the  son  of  Wakas- 
al-Lethi  saying,  I  heard  Omar  bin  Khattab 
(God  bless  him)  in  the  pulpit  saying,  I  heard 
the  apostle  of  God  (upon  him  be  prayer  and 
peace)  say:  ''Truly  all  deeds  are  according  to 
intentions.^'  ^ 

In  addition  to  all  the  classes  of  tradition  and 
their  divisions  here  given  there  is  yet  another 
class.  So  far  we  have  considered  the  words  of 
Mohammed,  his  actions  or  his  permissions. 
There  are  collections  of  traditions,  however, 
called  Jiadith  Tcudsi  which  are  supposed  to  be  the 
actual  word  of  God,  although  not  found  in  the 
Koran.  Instead  of  beginning,  **So  said  the 
prophet, ' '  they  begin,  *  *  God  said. ' '  Here  is  an 
example:  **God  said  (to  Him  be  praise  and 
glory),  *0  son  of  Adam,  lay  up  for  yourself 
good  store  for  the  way  is  long ;  and  strengthen 
the  saddlegear,  for  the  road  is  deep ;  and  make 
your  work  perfect,  for  the  Judge  is  stern;  and 

*  This  tradition  is  considered  one  of  the  four  fundamental 
traditions  of  Islam  and  is  inscribed  over  the  Gate  of  the  Bar- 
bers at  the  Azhar  mosque. 


28      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 


MOHAMMED 


Omar. 


Al-Bokhari  is  as  far  chronologically 
from  Mohammed  as  the  death  of 
Origen  (185-254  A.D.)  is  from  Christ 


M.  Ibrahim. 


Yahya. 


Sufyan. 


Itnad  =  chain  of  narrators. 
Main  =  text. 


Abdullah  bin  Zubeir. 


BOKHARI 


'  Truly  all  deeds  are  according  to  intentions." 


Facsimile  reproduction  of  a  pa^e  from  a  modern  edition  of  Al  Bokhari, 
showing  tradition  quoted  on  page  27. 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        29 


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30      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

shun  the  fire  by  hating  infidels  and  loving  the 
righteous,  for  God  will  not  suffer  the  wages  of 
the  just  to  be  lost.'  " 

The  following  tradition  shows  at  once  the 
puerile  character  of  these  collections  and  the 
attempt  made  at  every  turn  to  glorify  Mo- 
hammed and  Islam.  On  page  76  of  **Akhbar- 
el-Kudsiya, ' '  a  popular  book  of  traditions  sold 
in  Cairo,  it  is  related  *^on  the  authority  of 
Wahab  bin  Munabah  (may  God  bless  him)  that 
he  said:  *When  God  created  Adam  (upon  him 
be  peace)  and  breathed  in  him  of  His  Spirit, 
he  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  from  the  door 
of  paradise  and  saw  Mecca  and  over  it  these 
words,  *^  There  is  no  god  but  God  and  Moham- 
med is  God's  apostle.''  So  he  said,  **0  Lord, 
you  have  created  some  one  more  dear  to  you 
than  L"  Then  said  the  Most  Glorious,  **Yes,  0 
Adam,  and  he  is  the  prophet  of  your  seed  whom 
I  will  send  in  the  last  days  with  signs  and  won- 
ders. He  is  the  best  of  the  prophets  and  his 
people  the  best  of  all  nations."  And  when  God 
created  Eve  and  made  Adam  desirous  to  meet 
her,  Adam  exclaimed,  **0  Lord,  marry  me  to 
her"  and  God  Most  High  said,  ** Give  her 
dowry. ' '  And  Adam  said, '  *  0  Lord,  what  is  her 
dowry?"  And  He  said,  ^'That  you  pray  for 
the  possessor  of  this  name  Mohammed  a  hun- 
dred times,  and  then  I  will  marry  her  to  you." 
So   Adam  prayed  a  hundred  times   for  the 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        31 

prophet  (upon  whom  be  peace),  and  God  mar- 
ried him  to  Eve.'  " 

It  is  impossible  to  understand  or  to  interpret 
the  character  of  Moslem  tradition  without  real- 
izing two  things.  First,  that  this  mass  of  so- 
called  learning  touches  every  article  of  the  Mos- 
lem faith  and  practice,  deals  with  every  detail 
of  home  life,  trade,  politics,  war,  jurisprudence ; 
that  it  is,  in  fact,  an  encyclopedia  of  correct 
conduct  and  right  opinion  on  every  possible  sub- 
ject. In  this  respect  Moslem  tradition  is  like 
the  Jewish  Talmud.  Again  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that,  because  of  the  character  of  Mo- 
hammed, and  still  more  because  of  that  of  his 
Companions,  and  the  emphasis  laid  upon  slav- 
ery, polygamy,  concubinage,  and  divorce  as 
privileges  for  believers,  Moslem  tradition  is  in 
part  unutterably  vile  in  its  character.  A  port- 
able collection  of  Moslem  traditions  which  has 
great  vogue  in  India,  as  well  as  in  North  Africa, 
is  the  ^^Mishkat-ul-Masabih,''  compiled  by  Al- 
Baghawi.  This  was  translated  verbatim  into 
English  by  Captain  Matthews,  and  privately 
printed  at  Calcutta.  A  French  translation  of 
Al-Bokhari  was  also  made,  which  is  in  most  re- 
spects literal;  yet  both  of  these  translations 
are  in  sections  as  objectionable  to  the  general 
reader  as  the  worst  portions  of  Burton's  un- 
expurgated  **  Arabian  Nights." 


32      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

One  begins  to  understand  something  of  the 
degradation,  social  and  moral,  that  exists  in  the 
Moslem  world,  of  the  low  ideals  and  the  pitiful 
condition  of  its  womanhood  and  childhood, 
when  we  realize  the  effect  of  this  dead  weight 
upon  social  institutions  for  the  past  thirteen 
centuries.  Every  practice  indulged  in  as  re- 
gards the  seclusion  of  women  is  based  upon 
Moslem  tradition  as  interpreting  the  few  verses 
of  the  Koran  that  deal  with  the  subject.  The 
traditions  tell  us  how  the  immorality  of  men 
and  the  untrustworthiness  of  women  were  in- 
terpreted by  the  prophet,  and  he,  whom  they 
knew  as  the  apostle  of  God,  has,  by  his  example 
with  his  thirteen  wives,  in  furnishing  each  of 
them  a  house  by  herself  at  Medina,  been  the 
model  down  the  centuries.  The  ignorance  of 
Moslem  womanhood,  her  illiteracy  and  the  bur- 
den of  superstition  that  results  are  also  due 
most  of  all  to  Moslem  tradition.  The  following 
quotations  are  a  sufficient  index  to  a  mass  of 
material  on  this  subject : 


'*I  have  not  left  any  calamity  more  detrimental  to 
mankind  than  woman." 

**A  bad  omen  is  found  in  a  woman,  a  house,  or  a 
horse." 

**Do  not  visit  the  houses  of  men  when  they  are 
absent  from  their  homes,  for  the  devil  circulates 
within  you  like  the  blood  in  your  veins.    It  was  said. 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        5S 

*0  Prophet,  in  your  veins  alsoT  He  replied,  *My 
veins  also.  But  God  has  given  me  power  over  the 
devil  and  I  am  free  from  wickedness.'  '* 

**Two  women  must  not  sit  together,  because  the 
one  may  describe  the  other  to  her  husband,  so  that 
you  may  say  the  husband  had  seen  her  himself.'* 

**Do  not  follow  up  one  look  at  a  woman  with  an- 
other: for  verily  the  first  look  is  excusable,  but  the 
next  is  unlawful.'' 


All  the  traditions  that  deal  with  Mohammed's 
military  expeditions  are  an  eternal  blot  on  his 
legislation,  and  it  is  these  traditions  that  have 
formed  the  code  of  military  law  for  Moslems 
even  to  the  day  of  the  Armenian  massacres  and 
the  recent  war.  Mr.  Stanley  Lane-Poole  states 
the  facts  very  clearly  and  without  prejudice 
when  he  writes : 

**Kind  as  the  prophet  was  himself  towards  bonds- 
women, one  cannot  forget  the  unutterable  brutalities 
which  he  suffered  his  followers  to  inflict  upon  con- 
quered nations  in  the  taking  of  slaves.  The  Muslim 
soldier  was  allowed  to  do  as  he  pleased  with  any 
'infidel'  woman  he  might  meet  on  his  victorious 
march.  When  one  thinks  of  the  thousands  of  women, 
mothers  and  daughters,  who  must  have  suffered  untold 
shame  and  dishonour  by  this  license,  he  cannot  find 
words  to  express  his  horror.  And  this  cruel  indul- 
gence has  left  its  mark  on  the  Muslim  character,  nay, 
on  the  whole  character  of  Eastern  life." 


34      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Another  evil  due  to  the  traditions  that  deal 
with  family  life  is  the  entire  lack  of  social  fel- 
lowship between  man  and  woman.  Such  social 
intercourse  is  naturally  greatly  limited  by  the 
laws  of  seclusion,  by  the  use  of  the  veil,  by  the 
practice  of  polygamy,  and  of  divorce,  but  even 
where  close  kinship  or  relationship,  or,  in  many 
cases,  monogamy,  would  permit  such  fellow- 
ship, it  is  very  rarely  found.  The  Moslem 
woman  has  not  been  able  to  rise  above  the  posi- 
tion assigned  to  her  in  orthodox  tradition  ex- 
cept under  protest.  What  Dr.  Charles  R.  Wat- 
son says  in  regard  to  Egypt  is  true  of  every 
Moslem  land : 

'^Egypt's  social  system  is  the  deliberate  creation 
of  rigid,  unbending,  unchanging  Islamic  law.  The 
effort  is  made  periodically,  but  uniformly  without 
success,  to  show  that  what  we  call  Moslem  social  life 
is  not  an  integral  part  of  the  Mohammedan  religion. 
But  Islam  is  not  only  a  religion ;  it  is  a  political  sys- 
tem and  it  is  also  a  social  life.  Changes  effected  in 
the  political  or  social  worlds  of  a  Moslem  people  are 
invariably  effected  at  the  expense  of  loyalty  to  the 
religion  of  Islam.*' 

How  pathetic  is  the  appeal  of  a  child  that 
recently  appeared  in  an  Egyptian  daily,  Al 
Ahram,  on  May  23,  1915 ; 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        65 

**Dear  Editor:  Will  you  hear  the  plea  of  one  who 
has  just  completed  her  twelfth  year,  and  who  is  in 
the  third  year  of  her  studies  in  the  primary  schools. 
My  family  belongs  to  the  class  who  are  in  govern- 
ment employ,  and  my  parents  have  already  warned 
me  that  after  a  few  months  I  shall  be  put  in  seclu- 
sion, to  wear  the  veil,  and  must  leave  the  school  and 
my  studies.  You  will  not  be  surprised  that  I  have 
already  read  in  your  paper  the  articles  that  have 
appeared  on  this  subject.  So  it  occurred  to  me  that 
perhaps  you  would  also  publish  my  letter.  I  love 
learning  very  much,  and  if  I  had  been  secluded  two 
years  ago  it  would  not  have  been  possible  for  me  to 
have  learned  anything,  nor  would  I  then  have  real- 
ized the  evils  of  the  veil,  but  now  I  speak  from  ex- 
perience. The  least  of  its  evils — perhaps  the  greatest 
to  me — ^is  that  it  will  deprive  me  from  going  to 
school.  How  can  those  therefore  who  criticize  the 
freedom  of  women  blame  me  for  speaking  out?  If 
they  were  in  my  place  and  could  feel  as  I  feel,  they 
would  change  their  views,  without  doubt ;  and  I  write 
to  you  now  because  I  feel  already  the  weight  of  the 
prison  before  whose  doors  I  am  standing.  I  am  steal- 
ing these  few  minutes  without  the  knowledge  of  any 
of  my  family,  that  my  weak  voice  may  reach  the 
multitudes,  for  I  cannot  conceive  the  whirlwind  of 
anger  that  would  strike  me  should  my  father  know 
that  I  have  written  to  you.  This  is  all  that  I  write 
now,  but  if  I  should  be  secluded  and  compelled  to 
wear  the  veil,  I  will  doubtless  know  more  and  suffer 
more  personally,  and  then  I  will  write  again.  All 
I  can  do  is  to  ask  every  writer  who  has  a  conscience 


30      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

on  the  subject  to  support  the  request  of  those  who 
seek  liberty,  and  I  thank  those  two  who  have  written 
in  your  columns:  for  they  have  encouraged  me  to 
write  myself,  in  order  that  there  may  be  liberty  for 
the  Egyptian  women  from  the  yoke  of  bondage. 
*^  Written  from  school. 

*  *  ( Signed)        Spring  Flower.  ' ' 


Not  only  has  Moslem  tradition  a  dominating 
influence  on  home  life  with  such  results  as  have 
been  described,  but  many  of  the  physical  evils 
found  in  the  Moslem  world  are  directly  due  to 
the  teaching  of  the  Prophet,  as  handed  down 
in  tradition.  There  are  large  collections  en- 
titled *^Tib-en-Nebawi,"  which  give  all  Mo- 
hammed's talk  on  the  subject  of  health,  dis- 
ease, household  remedies,  and  surgery.  Dr. 
Karl  Opitz,  in  **Die  Medizin  im  Koran,''  deals 
with  the  subject  of  the  Koran's  teaching  on 
rnedicine  and  hygiene.  He  does  not  enter  into 
the  larger  field  of  tradition,  but  as  in  this  case 
the  various  traditions  are  linked  to  the  pas- 
sages contained  in  the  Koran,  it  is  interesting 
to  note  his  conclusions. 

First  of  all  he  indicates  that  Mohammed's 
knowledge  of  medicine  and  hygiene,  not  to  speak 
of  embryology,  was  largely  due  to  one  of  his 
friends.  El  Harith  bin  Kalida,  who  might  be 
called  Mohammed's  Luke.  The  ideas  promul- 
gated in  the  Koran  have  been  fixed  for  ever  be- 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        87 

cause  it  is  a  divine  revelation.  This  is  espe- 
cially shown  to  be  the  case  regarding  his  un- 
scientific statements  concerning  conception, 
birth,  weaning,  etc.  The  last  is  postponed,  ac- 
cording to  Mohammed's  revelation,  for  two 
years  (Surah  2:233).  He  gives  curious  in- 
stances of  errors  in  anatomy,  such  as  the  con- 
nection between  the  heart  and  the  windpipe 
(Surah  56 :  82),  and  the  composition  of  milk  and 
blood  (Surah  16:68).  Both  the  practice  of 
astrology  and  the  using  of  charms  for  the  evil 
eye  found  their  foundations  in  the  Koran,  and 
superstitious  efficacy  is  ascribed  to  honey  as  a 
panacea  (Surah  16: 17).  Although  the  legisla- 
tion as  regards  clothing,  sleep,  the  bath,  and 
food,  are  generally  hygienic,  and  we  can  spe- 
cially commend  the  prohibition  of  alcohol,  the 
fatalistic  teaching  as  regards  epidemics  is 
pointed  out.  Dr.  Opitz  shows  that  the  whole 
Moslem  system,  as  based  upon  the  practice  and 
teaching  of  the  prophet,  is  utterly  opposed  to 
eugenics,  and  the  position  assigned  to  woman- 
hood has  had  its  terrible  effect  upon  Moham- 
medan peoples  everywhere.  And  all  who  have 
read  the  popular  books  containing  Mohammed's 
table-talk  on  health  and  disease  and  cure  will 
see  that  in  these  traditions,  whether  rightly  or 
wrongly  attributed  to  the  Prophet,  we  have  the 
fons  et  origo  malorum  and  the  only  explanation 
of  much  that  is  evil  from  a  medical  standpoint 


38      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

in  the  world  of  Islam.  **The  longer  I  work 
among  Moslem  women,"  said  Dr.  Christine  I. 
Bennett  of  Arabia,  **the  more  strongly  it  is  be- 
ing impressed  on  my  mind  what  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  physical  ills  met  with  are  due  directly 
or  indirectly  to  the  influence  of  Islam.''  Child 
marriage  is  an  example.  Did  not  the  Prophet 
himself  marry  Aisha  when  she  was  seven, 
some  say  nine,  years  old?  **The  most  glar- 
ing evil,''  writes  Dr.  Brigstocke  of  Palestine, 
**from  a  medical  standpoint,  that  strikes  the 
observer  is  one  which  surely  is  due  to  Islam, 
or  is  at  any  rate  perpetuated  by  it,  and 
that  is  child  marriage,  by  which  I  mean  not 
so  much  the  marriage  of  children  to  one  an- 
other— though  that  is  common — but  the  mar- 
riage of  little  girls  to  men  many  years  their 
seniors.  The  saddest  cases  one  has  to  treat  in 
this  land  of  sad  cases  are  those  of  little  girls, 
who  ought  to  be  enjoying  games  and  school 
life,  seriously  injured,  if  not  maimed  for  life, 
as  a  result  of  this  horrible  practice.  A  recent 
case  is  an  instance  of  cruelty  coupled  with  the 
custom  of  child  marriage,  in  which  the  poor 
little  wife  was  left  to  suffer  prolonged  agonies 
rather  than  call  a  doctor,  as  the  result  of  which 
she  has  spent  over  a  year  in  one  hospital  or 
another,  where  everything  that  held  out  any 
hope  of  cure  has  been  done,  but  with  little 
benefit." 


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DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        39 

Another  sphere  in  which  tradition  has  had  its 
immense  influence  is  that  of  belief  in  the  spirit 
world,  the  teaching  of  Mohammed  in  regard  to 
jinn,  afarit,  the  evil  eye,  and  the  methods  to 
be  used  to  guard  against  them.  The  last  two 
chapters  in  the  Koran  were  revealed  on  this 
subject,  and  there  are  thousands  of  traditions 
in  regard  to  it.  Charms,  amulets,  necromancy, 
geomancy,  and  many  forms  of  exorcism,  includ- 
ing some  adopted  from  heathenism,  like  the 
Zar,  are  prevalent  in  the  world  of  Islam.  Mo- 
hammed was  a  believer  in  the  baneful  influence 
of  the  evil  eye.  We  read  in  tradition  that 
'Asma  bint  'Umais  relates  that  she  said,  *^0 
Prophet,  the  family  of  Ja'far  are  affected  by 
the  baneful  influences  of  an  evil  eye ;  may  I  use 
spells  for  them  or  notT'  The  Prophet  said, 
*^Yes,  for  if  there  were  anything  in  the  world 
which  would  overcome  fate,  it  would  be  an  evil 
eye.''  (^'Mishkat,''  Book  XXI,  Chap.  I, 
part  2.)  Many  other  superstitious  practices 
are  permitted  according  to  the  sayings  of 
Mohammed. 

Anas  says,  '^The  Prophet  permitted  a  spell 
(ruqyah)  being  used  to  counteract  the  ill 
effects  of  the  evil  eye;  and  on  those  bitten  by 
snakes  and  scorpions."  (''Sahih  Muslin," 
p.  233.) 

Um  Salma  relates  that  'Hhe  Prophet  allowed 
a  spell  to  be  used  for  the  removal  of  yellow- 


40      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

ness  in  the  eye,  which,  he  said,  proceeded  from 
the  malignant  eye.''  (**Sahihu'l-Bokhari," 
p.  854.) 

'Auf  ibn  Malik  says,  *Hhe  Prophet  said,  there 
is  nothing  wrong  in  using  spells,  provided  the 
use  of  them  does  not  associate  anything  with 
God."    (^^Mishkat,''  Book  XXI,  Chap.  I.) 

The  sale  of  amulets  of  every  description  is 
carried  on  within  a  stone's  throw  of  Al  Azhar 
University,  and  some  of  the  professors,  as  well 
as  many  of  the  students,  promote  the  industry. 
A  favourite  amulet,  printed  by  the  thou- 
sands and  sent  from  Cairo  throughout  all 
North  Africa  and  the  Near  East,  is  en- 
titled The  Amulet  of  the  Seven  Covenants  of 
Solomon, 

It  consists  of  a  strip  of  paper  seventy-nine 
inches  in  length  and  four  inches  in  breadth, 
lithographed,  and  with  portions  of  it  covered 
with  red,  yellow,  green,  or  gold  paint.  The 
whole  is  then  rolled  up,  tied,  put  into  an  amulet 
case  of  leather  and  silver,  and  worn  by  men  as 
well  as  by  women  and  children.  The  specimen 
which  is  translated  herewith  was  purchased 
from  Mohammed  el  Maliji,  a  bookseller  near 
Al  Azhar  and  renowned  for  his  bitter  opposition 
to  the  work  of  missionaries  in  Cairo.  As  typi- 
cal of  the  real  character  of  popular  Islam  this 
translation,,  which  is  verbatim  except  where 
indicated,  will  interest  the  reader: 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        41 
TEE  SEVEN  COVENANTS  OF  SOLOMON 

What  God  wills  will  he 

There  is  no  god  but  God,  Mohammed  is  the 
Apostle  of  God. 


Abu  Bakr 

God  Most  High 

Omar 

Hassan 

Mohammed, 
Peace  upon  him 

Hussein 

Othman 

'All 

Gabriel,  Peace  upon  him;  Michael,  Peace  upon 
him;  Irafil,  Peace  upon  him;  'Azrail,  Peace 
upon  him. 

An  Amulet  for  jinns  and  payment  of  debts, 
and  a  preserver  from  all  secret  diseases,  and 
for  travelling  by  land  and  sea,  and  for  meeting 
governors,  and  for  winning  love,  and  for  sell- 
ing and  buying,  and  for  travelling  by  day  and 
night :  Certainly  my  prosperity  is  through  God, 
Mohammed.  Him  alone  I  have  trusted  and  to 
Him  I  repent. 

The  Seven  Covenants  against  all  evils  and  to 
preserve  men  and  cause  blessings. 

Talha,  Zobeir,  Abd-er-Eahman,  El  Haj. 

It  is  useful  for  the  sting  of  scorpions,  ser- 
pents, and  all  other  insects.     The   one  who 


42      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

carries  this  (amulet)  gains  by  its  blessing  all 
desires. 

(Here  is  given  a  picture  of  a  scorpion  and 
snake.) 

Certainly  every  person  attains  to  what  he 
purposes.  This  is  the  amulet  of  great  power 
and  might  and  proof. 


*'In  the  Name  of  God  the  ]Merciful,  the 
Compassionate 

*' Thanks  be  to  God  the  Lord  of  the  worlds,  and 
prayer  and  peace  be  upon  the  noblest  apostle,  our 
Lord  Mohammed,  and  upon  his  family  and  Com- 
panions. But  after  this  it  is  related  of  the  prophet 
of  God,  Solomon,  son  of  David,  (peace  upon  both) 
that  he  saw  an  old  woman  with  hoary  hair,  blue  eyes, 
joined  eyebrows,  with  scrawny  limbs,  dishevelled  hair, 
a  gaping  mouth  from  which  flames  issued.  She 
cleaved  the  air  with  her  claws  and  broke  trees  with 
her  loud  voice.  The  prophet  Solomon  said  to  her, 
*Art  thou  of  the  jinn  or  human?  I  have  never  seen 
worse  than  you. '  She  said,  *  0  prophet  of  God,  I  am 
the  mother  of  children  {Um-es-Suhyan) .  1  have  do- 
minion upon  sons  of  Adam  and  daughters  of  Eve, 
and  upon  their  possessions.  I  enter  houses  and  gob- 
ble like  turkeys,  and  bark  like  dogs,  and  low  like 
cows,  and  make  a  noise  like  camels,  and  neigh  like 
horses,  and  bray  like  donkeys,  and  hiss  like  serpents, 
and  represent  everything.  I  make  wombs  barren  and 
destroy  children.    I  come  to  women  and  close  their 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        43 

wombs  and  leave  them,  and  they  will  not  conceive, 
and  then  people  say  they  are  barren.  I  come  to  a 
woman  in  pregnancy  and  destroy  her  offspring.  It  is 
I,  O  prophet  of  God,  who  come  to  the  woman  en- 
gaged and  tie  the  tails  of  her  garments,  and  announce 
woes  and  disasters.  It  is  I,  O  prophet  of  God,  who 
come  to  men  and  make  them  impotent.  [The  expres- 
sions here  used  are  too  indecent  for  translation.]  It 
is  I,  0  prophet  of  God,  who  come  to  men  and  oppose 
their  selling  and  buying.  If  they  trade,  they  do  not 
gain,  and  if  they  plough  they  will  not  reap.  It  is  I, 
0  prophet  of  God,  who  cause  all  these.'  Then  Solo- 
mon (peace  be  upon  him)  seized  her  in  anger  and 
said  to  her,  '0  cursed  one,  you  shall  not  go  before 
you  give  me  covenants  for  the  sons  of  Adam  and 
daughters  of  Eve,  and  for  their  wombs  and  their 
children,  or  I  will  cut  you  with  this  sword.'  She 
then  gave  the  following: 


"  'TJie  First  Covenant. 

'*  *By  God,  there  is  no  God  but  He,  the  Profiter, 
the  Harmful,  the  Possessor  of  this  world  and  the  next, 
the  Life-giver,  the  Guide  to  the  misbelievers,  the  Al- 
mighty, the  Dominant,  the  Grasper,  from  whom  no 
one  can  escape,  and  whom  no  one  can  overcome  nor 
defeat.  I  shall  not  come  near  the  one  upon  whom 
this  amulet  is  hung,  neither  in  travel  nor  in  sleep, 
nor  in  waking,  nor  in  loneliness,  and  God  is  witness 
to  what  I  say.    Here  is  its  seal. 


44      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

*'  'The  Second  Covenant. 

'*  'In  the  name  of  God,  the  Merciful,  the  Compas- 
sionate. By  God,  there  is  no  God  but  He,  the 
Knower  of  secrets,  the  Mighty.  ...  I  will  not  touch 
the  one  who  carries  this,  neither  in  his  humours,  nor 
in  his  bones,  nor  in  flesh  nor  blood  nor  skin  nor  hair ; 
nor  by  any  evil  as  long  as  earth  and  heavens  exist, 
and  God  is  witness  to  what  I  say,  and  this  is  the  seal. 

"  'TJie  Third  Covenant 

'*  'In  the  name  of  God  the  Merciful,  the  Compas- 
sionate. By  God,  who  is  God  but  He,  the  Living,  the 
Self -subsisting.  I  will  not  touch  the  one  who  carries 
this,  neither  in  his  prosperity  nor  his  children  .  .  . 
(etc.,  as  before). 

''  'The  Fourth  Covenant 

**  *In  the  name  of  God,  etc.  [Attributes  of  God 
differ.]  I  will  not  touch  the  one  who  carries  this 
neither  in  his  walking  nor  sitting,  (etc.). 

''  'The  Fifth  Covenant 

**  *In  the  name  of  God,  etc.  I  will  not  touch  the 
one  who  carries  this  neither  in  his  property,  nor 
trade,  etc.,  etc. 

"  'The  Sixth  Covenant 

'*  'In  the  name  of  God,  etc.  I  will  not  touch  .  .  . 
neither  secretly  nor  openly,  etc.,  etc.*  " 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        45 

Then  follow  the  Koranic  verses  called  Al 
Munajiyat. 

*' Special  Information  and  Benefit  for  Securing  Love 
and  Friendship 

**0  Thou  who  dost  unite  the  hearts  of  the  sons  of 
Adam  and  daughters  of  Eve  by  love,  we  ask  you  to 
make  the  bearer  accepted  and  loved  by  all,  and  give 
him  light  and  favour.    God  is  the  Light  of  heaven. 

**Noor  Verses 

"God  is  the  Light.  The  similitude  of  His  Light  is 
as  a  niche  in  a  wall  wherein  a  lamp  is  placed  and  the 
lamp  enclosed  in  a  case  of  glass.  The  glass  appears 
as  it  were  a  shining  star.  It  is  lighted  with  the  oil 
of  a  blessed  tree,  and  olive  neither  of  the  east  nor  of 
the  west.  It  wanteth  little  but  that  the  oil  thereof 
would  give  light  although  no  fire  touched  it. 

''Throne  Chapter 


Cti 


God!  There  is  no  god  but  He,  the  Living,  the 
Eternal.  Slumber  doth  not  overtake  Him,  neither 
sleep.  To  Him  belongeth  whatsoever  is  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.  Who  shall  intercede  with  Him  except 
by  His  permission  ?  He  knows  what  is  between  their 
hands  and  behind  them;  and  they  cannot  encompass 
aught  of  His  knowledge  except  as  He  please.  His 
throne  is  as  wide  as  heaven  and  earth.  The  preserva- 
tion of  both  is  no  weariness  to  Him.  He  is  the  High, 
the  Mighty." 


46      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Perhaps  the  most  celebrated  amulet  in  the 
world  of  Islam  is  that  called  Al  Budah,  a  magic 
square  supposed  to  have  been  revealed  to  Al 
Ghazali  and  now  known  by  his  name.  It  has 
become  the  starting-point  for  a  whole  science 
of  talismanic  symbols.  Some  of  the  Moslem 
authorities  say  that  Adam  invented  the  square. 
It  is  called  budah  because  the  letters  are  the 
key  to  the  combination.  To  the  popular  mind 
this  word  budah  has  become  a  sort  of  guardian 
angel,  invoking  both  good  and  bad  fortune. 
The  square  is  used  against  stomach  pains;  to 
render  one 's  self  invisible ;  to  protect  from  the 
evil  eye;  and  to  open  locks,  but  the  most  com- 
mon use  is  to  insure  the  safe  arrival  of  letters 
and  packages. 

From  Der  ChristlicJie  Orient,  September, 
1911,  we  learn  that  superstition  has  not  yet 
died  out  in  Turkey.  The  population  of  Safed 
in  Palestine,  according  to  a  missionary  cor- 
respondent, was  all  excitement  in  the  early  days 
of  July  because  a  veritable  hair  from  the  beard 
of  the  Prophet  Mohammed  had  been  granted 
them  as  a  gift  by  the  Sultan.  A  Christian 
builder  was  engaged  to  restore  a  mosque  of  the 
Binat  Yakoob,  where  the  famous  relic  now  finds 
shelter.  The  mayor  of  the  city  took  the  journey 
to  Acre  in  order  to  accompany  the  relic  to  its 
resting  place.  The  correspondent  goes  on  to 
relate  some  of  the  marvels  that  were  told  as 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        47 

to  the  virtues  connected  with  the  hair  of  the 
Prophet.  Twenty  soldiers,  fully  armed,  es- 
corted the  relic,  which  was  carried  on  horseback 
by  a  special  rider.  The  correspondent  states 
that  the  Arabs  look  upon  this  gift  as  a  proof 
that  the  rule  of  the  Young  Turks,  so  far  from 
being  irreligious  or  reactionary,  has  given 
evidence  of  its  respect  for  Islam  and  the 
Prophet. 

To  what  length  superstition  goes  is  evident 
also  from  the  practice  of  saint  worship,  which 
is  almost  universal  in  popular  Islam.  The 
moulids  at  Tanta  and  other  places  in  Egypt 
draw  larger  numbers  of  pilgrims  than  does 
Mecca  itself.  The  worship  of  relics  is  also  not 
uncommon  in  Islam.  Hairs  of  the  Prophet's 
beard  are  shown  to  tourists  in  Delhi,  Damascus, 
and  Constantinople,  and  a  crude  reproduction 
of  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  sandal  of  the 
Prophet  is  sold  as  an  amulet  in  Cairo. 

The  dead  weight  of  tradition  also  rests  upon 
all  methods  of  education  in  the  Moslem  world, 
from  the  kuttab  to  Al  Azhar  University:  it  is 
well-known  with  what  result.  Concerning  the 
leading  orthodox  Moslem  school  in  India,  that 
at  Deoband,  a  missionary  wrote : 

^*We  must  clearly  realize  that  the  college  is  not 
meant  in  any  way  to  fit  men  for  the  world's  work. 


48      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Its  aim  is  purely  religious.  To  the  Mohammedans, 
Arabic  is  the  holy  tongue.  The  Koran  and  Hadis  and 
all  that  has  sprung  up  around  them  alone  constitutes 
true  knowledge.  The  revelation  of  God  is  as  all- 
embracing  as  it  is  final  and  fixed.  It  is  a  waste  of 
life,  and  perilous  to  man's  eternal  interests,  to  give 
heed  to  the  new-fangled  notions  and  latter-day  knowl- 
edge which  make  up  modern  education.  What  we  con- 
sider knowledge  is  as  dust  compared  with  Arabic. 
The  faith  at  all  costs,  is  the  Moslem  cry.  And  so  they 
turn  again  to  *the  tongue  of  heaven  and  the  book  of 
God.'  All  the  land  over  they  see  that  the  loaves 
and  fishes  of  Government  employment  and  the  pres- 
sure of  the  new  conditions  of  life,  are  forcing  true 
Moslems  into  receiving  Western  education,  with  dis- 
astrous results.  The  confusion  and  loss  are  greatly 
increased  by  such  adventures  as  the  Anglo-Moham- 
medan College  at  Aligarh.  These  can,  in  the  eyes  of 
zealots,  but  further  destroy  Mohammedanism.  We 
can  only  in  some  measure  realize  the  feelings  of  the 
masses  on  this  subject  if  we  remember  that  Islam  is 
not  only  a  religion,  it  is  a  polity.  It  comprises  civi- 
lization, education,  and  all  else  a  man  needs  in  life. 
Even  the  trimming  of  his  very  moustache  is  a  matter 
of  divine  regulation.  The  spiritual  and  the  secular, 
the  eternal  and  the  temporal,  hang  together.  Thus  it 
is  that  earnest  men,  inspired  by  religious  zeal,  are 
doing  their  best  to  promote  the  old  learning,  and  so 
establish  men  in  the  old  paths.  It  is  not  education 
but  Islam  they  are  working  for,  and,  let  me  add,  they 
are  doing  it  right  gallantly.  They  see  clearly  that  the 
new  wine  cannot  be  put  into  the  old  bottles." 


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3  sss-a 

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££5 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        49 

This  same  description  would  apply  to  a  dozen 
and  more  other  leading  schools  at  Fez  and 
Kairwan,  at  Bagdad  and  Bokhara,  and  to 
Islam  as  it  is  tanght  in  China.  Intellectual 
stagnation  is  a  natural  consequence.  Nothing 
so  effectually  destroys  the  spirit  of  criticism 
and  prevents  progress  in  education  as  tradi- 
tionalism. Two  of  the  leading  papers  in  Egypt 
ascribed  the  backwardness  of  Islam  and  its 
political  downfall  solely  to  the  abandonment  of 
the  Koran  and  tradition.  Al  Moayyad  (Sep- 
tember 7,  1911)  had  a  long  article  under  the 
heading,  *  *  Only  by  the  Book  and  the  Traditions 
of  the  Prophet  can  we  be  guided  and  can  we 
secure  Happiness  and  Development." — ^^The 
Moslems  once  were  the  highest  of  tie  nations 
and  the  most  progressive  of  peoples  when  they 
held  fast  to  the  glorious  Book  and  the  tradi- 
tions ;  but  now  when  the  devil  has  plunged  them 
into  ignorance  they  have  abandoned  the  Koran 
and  made  themselves  despised  and  rejected  of 
men.  Islam  will  never  progress  except  hy  fol- 
lowing the  traditions  of  the  Prophet  even  as  it 
has  never  retrograded  except  by  abandoning 
them." 

Not  only  does  tradition  lay  its  dead  hand  on 
education,  but  it  fixes  forever  ethical  standards 
for  Islam :  standards  which  are  mediaeval,  Arab- 
ian, and  therefore  local ;  and  worst  of  all,  stand- 
ards which  cannot  rise  higher  than  the  char- 


50      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

acter  of  Mohammed  and  his  Companions.  Mr. 
R.  Bosworth  Smith,  who  wrote  the  most  able 
apology  for  Islam  in  his  **Life  of  Mohammed," 
confesses  that  * '  The  religion  of  Christ  contains 
whole  fields  of  morality  and  whole  realms  of 
thought  which  are  all  but  outside  the  religion 
of  Mohammed.  It  opens  humility,  purity  of 
heart,  forgiveness  of  injuries,  sacrifice  of  self 
to  man's  moral  nature ;  it  gives  scope  for  tolera- 
tion, development,  boundless  progress  to  his 
mind;  its  motive  power  is  stronger,  even  as  a 
friend  is  better  than  a  king  and  love  higher 
than  obedience.  Its  realized  ideals  in  the 
various  paths  of  human  greatness  have  been 
more  commanding,  more  many-sided,  more  holy, 
as  Averroes  is  below  Newton,  Haroun  below 
Alfred,  and  'Ali  below  St.  Paul.  Finally,  the 
ideal  life  of  all  is  far  more  elevating,  far  more 
majestic,  far  more  inspiring  even  as  the  life  of 
the  founder  of  Mohammedanism  is  below  the 
life  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity. 

**And  when  I  speak  of  the  ideal  life  of 
Mohammedanism  I  must  not  be  misunderstood. 
There  is  in  Mohammedanism  no  ideal  life  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  for  Mohammed's  char- 
acter was  admitted  by  himself  to  be  a  weak  and 
erring  one.  It  was  disfigured  by  at  least  one 
huge  moral  blemish;  and  exactly  in  so  far  as 
his  life  has,  in  spite  of  his  earnest  and  reiterated 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        61 

protestations,  been  made  an  example  to  be  fol- 
lowed, has  that  vice  been  perpetuated.'' 

Mohammed  had  more  than  one  **huge  moral 
blemish,"  and  yet  his  transgression  of  the  let- 
ter and  spirit  of  the  seventh  commandment  is 
a  sufficient  illustration  of  the  subject  before  us. 
Now,  it  is  passing  strange  that  orthodox  tra- 
dition lays  stress  even  on  this  side  of  the 
Prophet's  life  as  proof  of  his  superiority  over 
other  mortals,  with  the  result  that  Moslem 
ethics  have  steadily  deteriorated.  The  proof  is 
evident  in  their  literature.  A  few  portions  of 
tradition  that  deal  with  this  matter — and  one 
could  compile  bulky  volumes  on  the  subject — 
have  recently  been  reprinted  in  Paris  under  the 
title  *^Theologie  Musulmane."^  The  publish- 
ers, however,  were  not  Orientalists  or  students 
of  comparative  religion.  These  traditions  ap- 
peared in  a  series  of  prurient  literature  for 
popular  sale  on  the  boulevards  to  the  demi- 
monde ! 

Again,  because  of  traditionalism  and  its 
authority  there  is  no  real  distinction  in  popular 
Islam  between  the  ceremonial  and  moral  law; 
the  former  is  always  emphasized  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  latter.  A  hundred  illustrations 
might  be  given  at  random  from  Bokhari,  or 
even  from  the  Moslem  press  of  today.  Islam 
of  the  orthodox  type  is  Phariseeism  translated 

^  By  Paul  De  Regla.    Published  by  Albin  Michel. 


52      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

into  Arabic.  Sheikh  Jasim,  my  friend  in 
Arabia,  with  whom  I  had  dealings  for  many 
years,  was  so  astounded  when  he  first  read  the 
words  of  Christ  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
and  in  the  23rd  chapter  of  Matthew  that  he  said, 
**This  book  was  gotten  up  and  printed  by  the 
missionaries  as  an  attack  on  the  manners  and 
morals  of  Moslem  mullahs."  Every  Moslem 
recognizes  the  portrait  of  the  Pharisee  in  the 
Gospel  and  knows  many  such  who  are  walking 
the  streets  of  his  native  town.  Some  of  the 
questions  asked  in  Al  Manar  today  indicate  how 
they  still  tithe  anise  and  cummin  and  forget 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law.  The  follow- 
ing topics  were  seriously  discussed  during  the 
past  year : 

Is  it  allowed  to  read  Bokhari  during  war  time  in 
order  to  receive  victory  through  its  perusal? 

If  a  child  uses  its  grandmother  as  a  wet  nurse, 
must  the  mother  be  divorced? 

Are  the  articles  written  in  opposition  to  divorce 
not  an  indictment  of  Mohammed  and  his  religion  ? 

Is  it  permitted  to  use  tinctures  in  hospitals,  since 
they  contain  wine? 

Is  wine  unclean  in  itself,  that  is,  to  the  outer  touch 
or  smell,  if  one  does  not  drink  it  ? 

Is  it  forbidden  by  our  traditions  to  listen  to  con- 
cert singers? 

Is  it  permitted  that  women  should  learn 
writing? 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        53 

Was  the  law  of  Mohammed  created  before  all 
things?    (Answer:  Yes.) 

Is  a  woman  forbidden  to  engage  in  prayer  during 
her  periods?    (Answer:  Yes,  undoubtedly.) 

Are  the  instructions  given  to  a  man  in  the  grave 
as  to  what  he  should  answer  the  two  angels  obliga- 
tory? 


Mr.  Goldsack  in  a  recent  article  on  **  Popular 
Islam  in  Bengal,"  points  out  how  the  distinc- 
tion between  greater  and  lesser  sins  has  opened 
the  door  for  every  kind  of  hypocrisy  and  de- 
ceit. As  long  as  a  Moslem  avoids  those  sins 
which  are  considered  great,  namely,  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  Divine  Unity,  wasting  the  substance 
of  orphans,  usury,  etc.,  then,  says  Mr.  Goldsack, 
**lust,  deception,  lying,  etc.,  belong  to  the 
smaller  faults  which  God  is  said  to  *blot  out.' 
Such  an  idea  is  repulsive.  It  is  blasphemy.  It 
misrepresents  God.  It  degrades  His  character 
as  holiness.  Sin  with  the  Moslem,  then,  can- 
not be  very  deep.  We  have  all  heard  of  things 
being  only  skin-deep.  With  most  Moslems  sin 
does  not  go  even  that  far.  I  think  I  am  correct 
in  saying  that  most  Moslems  view  sin  as  an 
external  pollution  which  may  be  removed  by 
ablutions  of  water  or  sand.  Mohammed  him- 
self was  not  free  from  this  idea,  for  he  said, 
*He  sent  down  upon  you  water  from  heaven  that 


54      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

He  might  thereby  cleanse  you  and  cause  the 
pollution  of  Satan  to  pass  from  you.'  '' 

Not  only  do  Moslems,  according  to  orthodox 
tradition,  deny  hereditary  sin  and  make  light 
of  actual  sin,  but  the  fall  of  Adam  is  regarded 
not  as  a  moral  but  as  a  physical  fall  from  Para- 
dise.   To  quote  again  from  Mr.  Goldsack : 

*'The  emphasis  in  the  story  of  Eden  is  placed  on 
the  idea  of  a  fall  from,  not  in  Paradise.  That  beau- 
tiful garden  is  supposed  to  have  been  situated  above 
in  heaven,  and  Adam  is  said  to  have  fallen  to  earth 
and  landed  on  Adam^s  peak  in  Ceylon,  while  Eve 
alighted  at  a  place  near  Jiddah,  where  her  tomb  is 
still  shown,  173  yards  long  by  12  feet  broad.  Adam 
is  said  to  have  been  distressed,  not  because  he  had 
lost  communion  with  his  Maker,  but  because  he  could 
hear  no  more  the  sweet  singing  of  the  angels.  In 
all  this  there  is  no  sign  of  repentance  as  we  know 
repentance;  there  is  only  regret.  True,  it  is  taught 
that  Adam  and  Eve  were  the  original  parents  of  all 
men,  and  that  they  ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  but 
that  we  all  have  derived  from  them  a  tendency  to 
evil,  Islam  has  no  teaching.  In  fact,  Adam's  act  of 
disobedience  was  a  mere  error  and  nothing  more,  al- 
though he  is  represented  as  having  cried  over  his 
offence  for  two  hundred  years. ' ' 

Finally,  it  is  in  Moslem  tradition  even  more 
than  in  the  Koran  that  we  find  the  cause  of  in- 
tolerance, hatred,  and  fanaticism.    There  is  no 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        55 

universal  brotherhood  in  Islam.  Nowhere  in 
Moslem  law  is  the  infidel  put  on  the  same  plat- 
form with  the  believer.  His  testimony  in  a 
Court  of  Justice  is  not  equal  to  that  of  a  Mos- 
lem. The  penalty  for  personal  violence  on  a 
Christian  or  infidel  is  lower  than  in  the  case 
of  a  believer,  and  according  to  Moslem  law 
there  is  no  death  penalty  for  the  murder  of  a 
Christian !  This  was  illustrated  in  the  trial  at 
the  famous  case  of  Wardani,  who  murdered  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Egypt,  Butras  Pasha.  We 
read  in  **Minhaj  et  Talibin,"  a  Manual  of 
Mohammedan  Law  according  to  the  school  oi 
Shafii,  pp.  398  and  399: 

*'When  one  kills  a  Moslem  in  an  enemy's  country, 
under  the  belief  that  he  is  an  infidel  not  subject  to 
Moslem  authority,  one  is  liable  neither  to  a  penalty 
under  the  law  of  talion  nor  to  payment  of  the  price 
of  blood/' 

'^To  render  applicable  the  law  of  talion  it  is  legally 
necessary — 

**1.  That  the  deceased  was  a  Moslem,  or  an  infidel 
enjoying  our  protection,  on  some  ground  or  other. 
An  infidel  not  subject  to  a  Moslem  ruler,  and  an 
apostate,  are  proscribed,  and  may  be  killed  with  im- 
punity." 

*'A  Moslem  cannot  be  put  to  death  for  killing  an 
infidel,  even  though  the  latter  may  be  the  subject  of 
a  Moslem  prince;  but  an  infidel  who  kills  a  Moslem 
or  an  infidel  is  liable  to  the  law  of  talion,  even  though 


56      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

the  two  infidels  are  not  of  the  same  religion,  or  the 
criminal  embraces  the  faith  after  committing  the 


One  may  judge  of  the  legal  position  of  apos- 
tates and  of  the  character  of  Moslem  law  in 
general  by  this  paragraph : 

**  Apostasy  consists  in  the  abjuration  of  Islam, 
either  mentally,  or  by  words,  or  by  acts  incompatible 
with  faith.  As  to  oral  abjuration,  it  matters  little 
whether  the  words  are  said  in  joke,  or  through  a  spirit 
of  contradiction,  or  in  good  faith  ...  an  attempt 
should  be  made  to  induce  the  apostate  to  return  from 
his  or  her  errors ;  though,  according  to  one  authority, 
this  is  only  a  commendable  proceeding.  The  exhorta- 
tion should  take  place  immediately,  or  according  to 
one  jurist,  in  the  first  three  days ;  and  if  it  is  of  no 
effect,  the  guilty  man  or  woman  should  be  put  to 
death.  Where,  on  the  contrary,  the  guilty  party  re- 
turns from  his  or  her  errors,  this  conversion  must  be 
accepted  as  sincere,  and  the  converted  person  left 
alone;  unless,  according  to  some  authorities,  he  has 
embraced  an  occult  religion,  such  as  the  Zend,  whose 
adherents,  while  professing  Islam,  are  none  the  less 
infidels  in  their  heart,  or  some  doctrine  admitting  of 
a  mystic  or  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  Koran." 

The  hatred  toward  Christians  and  Jews  is 
ready  to  show  itself,  as  did  the  hatred  of  Mo- 
hammed the  Prophet,  on  the  least  provocation. 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        67 

The  present  Armenian  massacres,  the  attempts 
at  holy  war  or  jihad,  in  recent  years  are  ex- 
amples. A  paper  published  at  Bagdad  called 
Mesopotamia  openly  incited  Moslems  to  kill  all 
Christians  solely  because  they  were  Christians 
and  Italy  had  made  aggressive  warfare  upon 
Turkey  in  Tripoli.  (22nd  Dhul-Hajj,  A.  R 
1329.)  Even  in  India  this  spirit  is  often  evi- 
dent. Early  in  June,  1914,  a  cinematograph 
company  at  Karachi  exhibited  a  j51m  which  de- 
picted an  imaginary  episode  in  the  life  of  an 
Oriental  prophet,  his  intrigues  and  wars.  The 
film  was  called  Azim  and  undoubtedly  repre- 
sented only  an  Oriental  story;  but  the  Moslems 
were  straightway  offended  and  imagined  it  was 
an  attack  on  their  Prophet  and  a  blasphemous 
exhibition.  Before  I  quote  from  the  Comrade 
of  June  30th,  we  must  remember  how  Moslem 
hearts  were  stirred  at  this  time  by  the  seizure 
of  a  washhouse  pertaining  to  a  mosque  at  Cawn- 
pore,  and  the  publication  of  Dr.  Mingana's  New 
Koran  Text  at  Cambridge.  In  view  of  all  these 
untoward  happenings  the  editor  of  the  Comrade 
unburdened  his  soul  as  follows : 


**This,  as  we  have  said,  was  a  master-stroke  of 
genius,  for  if  neither  Tripoli  nor  the  Balkans,  neither 
Persia  nor  Morocco,  neither  Cawnpore  nor  Calcutta 
would  provoke  the  Mussalmans,  this  latest  plot  at 
Karachi  was  bound  to  do  it.    Dr.  Mingana's  Quran 


58      ,THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

can  only  be  read  by  the  literate,  but  Mr.  Greenfield  *s 
latest  'Hadees'  concerning  the  prophet  of  Islam  can 
be  seen  as  a  moving  picture  by  all  alike.  Really  this 
Mussalman  fanatic  knows  how  to  arouse  the  religious 
passions  and  fanaticism  of  his  co-religionists  in  spite 
of  all  the  antidotes  provided  by  the  creator  of  the 
'Indian  Peril.'  The  Deputy  Commissioner  who  sug- 
gests merely  deportation  is  a  very  milk-and-water 
sort  of  District  Officer.  The  least  which  this  friend 
deserves  is  being  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  and 
then  flung  into  a  cauldron  of  boiling  pitch.  If  this 
sort  of  namby-pamby  disposition  continues  to  show 
itself  in  our  District  Magistrates  when  dealing  with 
such  wicked  and  vile  plotters,  we  are  afraid  we  shall 
have  to  send  them  to  the  Balkans  to  learn  something 
of  the  art  and  science  of  making  the  punishment  fit 
the  crime." 


Such  is  the  spirit  of  intolerance  on  the  part 
of  the  editor  of  the  leading  Moslem  paper  in 
English  in  India;  what  may  we  expect  in  less 
favoured  lands  or  from  the  illiterate  classes? 
No  one  can  live  among  them  without  daily  ex- 
periencing the  effects  of  this  religion  in  produc- 
ing fanaticism  and  contempt  toward  everything 
non-Moslem.  After  sixteen  years'  experience 
in  Arabia  among  this  class  of  Mohammedans  I 
can  only  endorse  the  famous  and  sober  though 
severe  indictment  of  Islam  given  by  Schlegel  in 
his  philosophy  of  history:  *'A  prophet  without 
miracles,  a  religion  without  mysteries,  and  a 


DEAD  WEIGHT  OF  TRADITION        69 

morality  without  love — which  has  always  en- 
couraged a  thirst  for  blood  and  which  has  begun 
and  ended  in  the  most  unbounded  sensuality/' 
— because  on  it  there  rested  the  dead-weight  of 
Tradition. 


II 

THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE 


"  In  controversies  with  respect  to  Islam  and  Civilization, 
no  account  is  usually  taken  of  the  Mystical  side  of  this  Creed 
as  a  native  element  of  antagonism  to  the  most  essential  doc- 
trines of  Islam.  Widespread  as  is  this  unorthodox  mysticism, 
it  has  been,  and  still  is  compelled  to  keep  itself  to  a  certain 
extent  hidden." — ^LucY  M.  J.  Gabnett:  "Mysticism  and 
Magic  in  Turkey." 

"  Moses  once  heard  a  shepherd  praying  as  follows :  *  0  God, 
show  me  where  Thou  art  that  I  may  become  Thy  servant.  I 
will  clean  Thy  shoes,  and  comb  Thy  hair,  and  sew  Thy  clothes, 
and  fetch  Thee  milk.'  When  Moses  heard  him  praying  in  this 
senseless  manner,  he  rebuked  him,  saying,  *  O  foolish  one, 
though  your  father  was  a  Moslem,  you  have  become  an  infidel! 
God  is  a  spirit,  and  needs  not  such  gross  ministrations  as  in 
your  ignorance  you  suppose.*  The  shepherd  was  abashed  at 
the  Prophet's  rebuke;  he  tore  his  clothes  and  fled  away  into 
the  desert.  Then  a  voice  from  heaven  was  heard  saying,  *  O 
Moses,  wherefore  hast  thou  driven  away  My  servant?  Thine 
oflBce  it  is  to  reconcile  my  people  with  Me,  not  to  drive  them 
away  from  Me.  I  have  given  to  men  different  usages  and 
forms  of  praising  and  of  adoring  Me.  I  have  no  need  of  their 
praises,  being  exalted  high  above  all  such  needs.  I  regard  not 
the  words  which  are  spoken,  but  the  heart  that  offers  them.' " — 
El  Mesnavi. 


n 

THE  EEVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILUEE 


Thou  therefore  that  teachest  another,  teachest  thou 
not  thyself?  thou  that  preachest  a  man  should  not 
steal,  does  thou  steal?  thou  that  sayest  a  man  should 
not  commit  adultery,  dost  thou  commit  adultery?  thou 
that  abhorrest  idols,  dost  thou  rob  temples?  thou  who 
gloriest  in  the  law,  through  thy  transgression  of  the 
law  dishonourest  thou  Ood?  For  the  name  of  Ood  is 
blasphemed  among  the  Gentiles  because  of  you,  even 
as  it  is  written.  For  circumcision  indeed  profiteth,  if 
thou  be  a  doer  of  the  law:  but  if  thou  be  a  trans- 
gressor of  the  law,  thy  circumcision  is  become  uncir- 
cumcision. — Romans  2:  21-25. 

My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light. — ^Matt. 
11;  30. 


THIS  began  very  early.  In  fact  the  rise  of 
the  Shiah  sect  in  Persia  and  the  Schism 
in  the  Caliphate  was  due  not  only  to 
family  jealousies  on  behalf  of  'Ali  as  the  true 
successor  of  the  Prophet,  but  also  to  the  fact 
that  the  new  wine  of  Aryan  thought  and  philos- 
ophy in  Persia  burst  the  leathern  bottles  of  the 
Semitic  creed.  As  Sir  Lewis  Pelly  remarks: 
*' Though  the  personal  history  of  'Ali  and  his 
sons  was  the  exciting  cause  of  the  Shiah  schism, 
the  formal  and  fundamental  cause  lies  far 
deeper  in  the  impassable  ethnological  gulf  which 
separates    the    Aryan    and    Semitic    races." 


64      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Persia  has  been  the  mother  of  heresies  in  the 
history  of  Moslem  dogma  and  in  addition  to 
the  doctrinal  and  party  lines  in  Islam,  based 
on  the  interpretation  of  Tradition,  the  system 
has  suffered  disintegration  for  centuries 
through  pantheism,  rationalism,  and  asceticism, 
which  at  various  times  and  in  various  ways 
swept  through  all  the  sects  alike  and  exerted  a 
powerful  influence  without  producing  perma- 
nent reform  or  progress. 

The  revolt  against  Islam  in  its  hard  tradi- 
tional form  has  generally  been  along  one  of 
three  lines :  Attempt  to  spiritualize  its  doctrines 
(Sufism);  attempts  to  rid  it  of  excrescences, 
that  is,  to  minimize  the  weight  of  tradition,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Wahabis ;  and  finally,  especially 
in  recent  years,  syncretism  ^  (new  wine  into  old 
bottles)  by  the  establishment  of  new  sects,  such 
as  Babism,  Bahaism,  and  the  Ahmadiya  move- 
ment.   This  might  be  called  Moslem  eclecticism. 

I.   Attempts  to  Spibitualize 

Al  Ghazali  is  the  outstanding  and  most  in- 
fluential example.  In  him  we  doubtless  see 
Islam  at  its  best.  His  teachings  are  sum- 
marized in  his  great  work  *  ^  The  Revival  of  the 
Sciences  of  Religion"  and  if  only  he  had  been 

*  "  The  attempt  to  reconcile  irreconcilable  viewf  in  religion 
or  philoiophy."---Century  Dictionary. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     65 

able  to  carry  the  masses  with  him,  his  reform 
might  have  led  to  truer  conceptions  of  God  and 
life,  and  even  of  Christianity.  The  story  of  his 
own  deep  spiritual  experiences .  is  given  in  his 
famous  book  **A1  Munkidh  minad  Dillal,'*  re- 
cently translated  into  English  under  the  title, 
' '  The  Confessions  of  Al  Ghazali. ' '  Al  Ghazali  's 
religious  experiences  are  so  deeply  interesting 
that  we  give  herewith  some  extracts  from  his 
**  Confessions. " 

''Know  then,  my  brothers  (may  God  direct  you  in 
the  right  way),  that  the  diversity  in  beliefs  and  re- 
ligions, and  the  variety  of  doctrines  and  sects  which 
divide  men,  are  like  a  deep  ocean  strewn  with  ship- 
wrecks, from  which  very  few  escape  safe  and  sound. 
Each  sect,  it  is  true,  believes  itself  in  possession  of 
the  truth  and  of  salvation,  'each  party,*  as  the  Koran 
saith,  'rejoices  in  its  own  creed';  but  as  the  chief 
of  the  apostles,  whose  word  is  always  truthful,  has 
told  us,  *My  people  will  be  divided  into  more  than 
seventy  sects,  of  whom  only  one  will  be  saved.'  This 
prediction,  like  all  others  of  the  Prophet,  must  be 
fulfilled. 

''From  the  period  of  adolescence,  that  is  to  say, 
previous  to  reaching  my  twentieth  year  to  the  present 
time,  when  I  have  passed  my  fiftieth,  I  have  ventured 
into  this  vast  ocean.  I  have  fearlessly  sounded  its 
depths,  and  like  a  resolute  diver,  I  have  penetrated 
its  darkness  and  dared  its  dangers  and  abysses.  I 
have  interrogated  the  beliefs  of  each  sect  and  scru- 
tinized the  mysteries  of  each  doctrine,  in  order  to 


66      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

disentangle  truth  from  error  and  orthodoxy  from 
heresy.  I  have  never  met  one  who  maintained  the 
hidden  meaning  of  the  Koran  without  investigating 
the  nature  of  his  belief,  nor  a  partisan  of  its  exterior 
sense  without  inquiring  into  the  results  of  his  doc- 
trine. There  is  no  philosopher  whose  system  I  have 
not  fathomed,  nor  theologian  the  intricacies  of  whose 
doctrine  I  have  not  followed  out. 

' '  Sufism  has  no  secrets  into  which  I  have  not  pene- 
trated; the  devout  adorer  of  Deity  has  revealed  to 
me  the  aim  of  his  austerities;  the  atheist  has  not 
been  able  to  conceal  from  me  the  real  reason  of  his 
unbelief.  The  thirst  for  knowledge  was  innate  in 
me  from  an  early  age;  it  was  like  a  second  nature 
implanted  by  God,  without  any  will  on  my  part.  No 
sooner  had  I  emerged  from  boyhood  than  I  had  al- 
ready broken  the  fetters  of  tradition  and  freed  my- 
self from  hereditary  beliefs. 

*' Having  noticed  how  easily  the  children  of  Chris- 
tians become  Christians,  and  the  children  of  Moslems 
embrace  Islam,  and  remembering  also  the  traditional 
saying  ascribed  to  the  Prophet,  *  Every  child  has  in 
him  the  germ  of  Islam,  then  his  parents  make  him 
Jew,  Christian,  or  Zoroastrian, '  I  was  moved  by  a 
keen  desire  to  learn  what  was  this  innate  disposition 
in  the  child,  the  nature  of  the  accidental  beliefs  im- 
posed on  him  by  the  authority  of  his  parents  and  his 
masters,  and  finally  the  unreasoned  convictions 
which  he  derives  from  their  instructions. 

''Perhaps  also  Death  in  that  state,  according  to 
that  saying  of  the  Prince  of  prophets,  *Men  are 
asleep ;  when  they  die,  they  wake. '    Our  present  life 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     67 

in  relation  to  the  future  is  perhaps  only  a  dream,  and 
man,  once  dead,  will  see  things  in  direct  opposition 
to  those  now  before  his  eyes ;  he  will  then  understand 
that  word  of  the  Koran,  '  Today  we  have  removed  the 
veil  from  thine  eyes  and  thy  sight  is  keen.' 

*'Such  thoughts  as  these  threatened  to  shake  my 
reason,  and  I  sought  to  find  an  escape  from  them. 
But  how?  In  order  to  disentangle  the  knot  of  this 
difficulty,  a  proof  was  necessary.  Now  a  proof  must 
be  based  on  primary  assumptions,  and  it  was  pre- 
cisely these  of  which  I  was  in  doubt.  This  unhappy 
state  lasted  about  two  months,  during  which  I  was, 
not,  it  is  true,  explicitly  or  by  profession,  but  morally 
and  essentially  a  thoroughgoing  skeptic.'' 

He  could  find  no  rest  for  his  soul  and  finally 
turned  to  mysticism.    He  goes  on  to  say: 

**The  researches  to  which  I  had  devoted  myself,  the 
path  which  I  had  traversed  in  studying  religious  and 
speculative  branches  of  knowledge,  had  given  me  a 
firm  faith  in  three  things — God,  Inspiration,  and  the 
Last  Judgment.  These  three  fundamental  articles  of 
belief  were  confirmed  in  me,  not  merely  by  definite 
arguments,  but  by  a  chain  of  causes,  circumstances, 
and  proofs  which  it  is  impossible  to  recount.  I  saw 
that  one  can  only  hope  for  salvation  by  devotion  and 
the  conquest  of  one's  passions,  a  procedure  which 
presupposes  renouncement  and  detachment  from  this 
world  of  falsehood  in  order  to  turn  toward  eternity 
and  meditation  on  God.  Finally,  I  saw  that  the  only 
condition  of  success  was  to  sacrifice  honours  and 


68      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

riches  and  to  sever  the  ties  and  attachments  of  worldly- 
life. 

*' Coming  seriously  to  consider  my  state,  I  found 
myself  bound  down  on  all  sides  by  these  trammels. 
Examining  my  actions,  the  most  fair-seeming  of 
which  were  my  lecturing  and  professional  occupa- 
tions, I  found  to  my  surprise  that  I  was  engrossed  in 
several  studies  of  little  value,  and  profitless  as  re- 
gards my  salvation.  I  probed  the  motives  of  my 
teaching  and  found  that  in  place  of  being  sincerely 
consecrated  to  God,  it  was  only  actuated  by  a  vain 
desire  of  honour  and  reputation.  I  perceived  that  I 
was  on  the  edge  of  an  abyss,  and  that  without  an 
immediate  conversion  I  should  be  doomed  to  eternal 
fire.  In  these  reflections  I  spent  a  long  time.  Still  a 
prey  to  uncertainty,  one  day  I  decided  to  leave  Bag- 
dad and  to  give  up  everything;  the  next  day  I  gave 
up  my  resolution.  I  advanced  one  step  and  immedi- 
ately relapsed.  In  the  morning  I  was  sincerely  re- 
solved only  to  occupy  myself  with  the  future  life; 
in  the  evening  a  crowd  of  carnal  thoughts  assailed 
and  dispersed  my  resolutions.  On  the  one  side  the 
world  kept  me  bound  to  my  post  in  the  chains  of 
covetousness,  on  the  other  side  the  voice  of  religion 
cried  to  me,  *Up!  Up!  thy  life  is  nearing  its  end, 
and  thou  hast  a  long  journey  to  make.  All  thy  pre- 
tended knowledge  is  nought  but  falsehood  and  fan- 
tasy. If  thou  dost  not  think  now  of  thy  salvation, 
when  wilt  thou  think  of  it  ?  If  thou  dost  not  break  thy 
chains  today,  when  wilt  thou  break  them?'  Then 
my  resolve  was  strengthened,  I  wished  to  give  up  all 
and  flee;  but  the  Tempter,  returning  to  the  attack, 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     69 

said,  'You  are  suffering  from  a  transitory  feeling; 
don't  give  way  to  it,  for  it  will  soon  pass.  If  you 
obey  it,  if  you  give  up  this  fine  position,  this  honour- 
able post  exempt  from  trouble  and  rivalry,  this  seat 
of  authority  safe  from  attack,  you  will  regret  it  later 
on  without  being  able  to  recover  it. ' 

*  *  Finally,  conscious-  of  my  weakness  and  the  pros- 
tration of  my  soul,  I  took  refuge  in  God  as  a  man 
at  the  end  of  himself  and  without  resources.  *He 
who  hears  the  wretched  when  they  cry'  [Koran, 
XXVII,  63]  deigned  to  hear  me;  He  made  easy  to 
me  the  sacrifice  of  honours,  wealth,  and  family.'' 

Yet  his  experience  is  remarkable  and  one  can- 
not help  believing  that  God 's  spirit  was  not  ab- 
sent altogether  from  him  in  his  diligent  search. 
At  the  close  of  his  book  he  writes : 

'*Ten  years  passed  in  this  manner.  During  my 
successive  periods  of  meditation  there  were  revealed 
to  me  things  impossible  to  recount.  All  that  I  shall 
say  for  the  edification  of  the  reader  is  this:  I  learnt 
from  a  sure  source  that  the  Sufis  are  the  true  pioneers 
on  the  path  of  God ;  that  there  is  nothing  more  beau- 
tiful than  their  life,  nor  more  praiseworthy  than 
their  rule  of  conduct,  nor  purer  than  their  morality. 
The  intelligence  of  thinkers,  the  wisdom  of  philoso- 
phers, the  knowledge  of  the  most  learned  doctors  of 
the  law  would  in  vain  combine  their  efforts  in  order 
to  modify  or  improve  their  doctrine  and  morals;  it 
would  be  impossible.  With  the  sufis,  repose  and 
movement,  exterior  or  interior,  are  illumined  with 


70      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

the  light  which  proceeds  from  the  Central  Radiance 
of  Inspiration.'' 

And  yet  how  hopeless  it  all  seemed,  for  at  the 
end  of  his  book  he  closes  with  these  words : 

''But  the  knowledge  of  which  we  speak  is  not  de- 
rived from  sources  accessible  to  human  diligence,  and 
that  is  why  progress  in  mere  worldly  knowledge 
renders  the  sinner  more  hardened  in  his  revolt  against 
God. 

' '  True  knowledge,  on  the  contrary,  inspires  in  him 
who  is  initiate  in  it  more  fear  and  more  reverence, 
and  raises  a  barrier  of  defence  between  him  and  sin. 
He  may  slip  and  stumble,  it  is  true,  as  is  inevitable 
with  one  encompassed  by  human  infirmity,  but  these 
slips  and  stumbles  will  not  weaken  his  faith.  The 
true  Moslem  succumbs  occasionally  to  temptation,  but 
he  repents  and  will  not  persevere  obstinately  in  the 
path  of  error. 

**I  pray  God  the  Omnipotent  to  place  us  in  the 
ranks  of  His  chosen,  among  the  number  of  those  whom 
He  directs  in  the  path  of  safety,  in  whom  He  inspires 
fervour  lest  they  forget  Him ;  whom  He  cleanses  from 
all  defilement,  that  nothing  may  remain  in  them  ex- 
cept Himself;  yea,  of  those  whom  He  indwells  com- 
pletely, that  they  may  adore  none  beside  Him. '  * 

It  is  clear  from  all  this  how  thoroughly 
Ghazali  revolted  against  the  literalism  and 
Phariseeism  of  tradition,  and  although  he  did 
not  abandon  the  foundations  of  Islam,  he  yet 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     71 

sought  in  the  superstructure  to  interpret  creed 
and  ritual  on  spiritual  lines.  Some  of  his  say- 
ings on  purification,  prayer,  repentance,  and  the 
Moslem  heaven  approach  very  closely  to  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible.  The  following  examples 
make  this  clear: 

In  speaking  of  purification  he  says  there  are 
four  degrees  of  purity :  first,  purity  from  things 
that  defile  the  body;  second,  purity  from  gross 
sins ;  third,  purity  of  the  heart  from  an  evil  dis- 
position, and  lastly,  the  highest  purity  which  is 
a  purification  of  the  whole  inward  nature  from 
everything  except  the  Presence  of  God;  this  he 
says  is  the  purity  attained  by  the  Prophets  and 
Apostles.  In  giving  his  thoughts  on  the  spirit- 
ual character  of  prayer,  he  attains  almost  the 
height  of  St.  Paul.  *^True  prayer,''  he  says 
** consists  of  six  elements:  the  presence  of  the 
heart,  a  true  understanding  of  its  need,  rever- 
ence, hope,  and  a  sense  of  shame  at  our  own 
sins."  The  true  kihla  to  which  we  pray  is  not 
Mecca  but  the  face  of  God.  *'Note  this,"  he 
says,  ^^that  even  as  you  cannot  turn  your  face 
to  Mecca  without  turning  it  away  from  every 
other  direction,  so  your  heart  will  not  be  turned 
to  God  unless  you  divorce  it  from  every  other 
object  and  thought  in  the  world."  ^^When  you 
stand  up  to  pray,"  he  says,  ^* remember  that 
time  when  on  the  great  day  you  will  stand  alone 
before  the  majestic  presence  of  God  to  answer 


'\ 


\ 


72      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

for  your  past  life. ' '  When  you  pronounce  the 
words  *'God  is  Great,"  meditate  on  this  thought 
and  ask  yourself  whether  there  is  anything  in 
your  heart  greater  than  God  or  anything  to 
which  you  are  more  obedient  than  you  are  to 
God.  Unless  you  do  this,  all  your  shouting  will 
avail  you  nothing.  In  describing  the  Moslem 
fast  he  says  that  there  are  three  degrees  of 
fasting:  first,  that  of  the  common  people;  sec- 
ond, the  fast  of  the  special  class ;  and  third  the 
fast  of  the  special  of  specials.  The  first  class 
fast  from  food  and  the  desires  of  the  flesh,  the 
second  class  abstain  with  all  their  members  and 
senses  from  sin,  and  the  third  class  abstain  from 
every  worldly  thought  and  desire  and  think  of 
nothing  but  God  Himself.- 

It  is,  however,  in  his  description  of  the  Mos- 
lem paradise  that  Al  Ghazali  rises  to  the  highest 
thoughts.  Although  he  does  not  deny  its  sen- 
suous pleasures  he  pictures  these  as  only  for 
the  common  believer  and  says  that  if  this  were 
the  total  of  its  delights,  cattle  in  a  fertile  pas- 
ture would  have  paradise.  The  true  delight  of 
Heaven  is  perfect  peace  and  the  beatific  vision 
of  God.  How  mortal  eye  can  see  the  immortal, 
how  the  finite  can  behold  the  infinite  without  an 
incarnation  of  God,  Al  Ghazali  does  not  make 
clear. 

These  quotations  are  taken  from  his  great 
work,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  Moslems  have 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     73 

said  that  if  all  the  books  of  Islam  were  de- 
stroyed, it  would  be  but  a  slight  loss,  provided 
Al  Ghazali's  work  on  the  **  Revival  of  the  Sci- 
ences of  Religion"  were  preserved.  Of  this 
man.  Professor  Macdonald,  who  calls  him  the 
greatest  figure  in  the  history  of  Islam,  says: 
**  Islam  has  never  outgrown  him  and  has  never 
fully  understood  him. ' '  We  may  add,  although 
he  is  once  more  coming  to  the  front  and  his 
works  are  being  reprinted  and  recommended,  it 
is  doubtful  whether  his  teachings  will  be  able  to 
rescue  the  masses  from  traditionalism,  or  the 
educated  from  rationalism.  Even  Al  Ghazali  is 
sad  reading  for  a  Christian.  The  iron  is  mingled 
with  clay.  The  pearls  are  found  in  the  mire, 
and  in  the  same  chapters  one  may  catch  sub- 
lime glimpses  of  the  truth  and  be  dragged  down 
in  the  sloughs  of  Moslem  carnality.  What  he 
says  about  marriage,  for  example,  and  the 
rights  of  the  husband  over  the  wife  in  his  great 
work  on  **The  Revival  of  the  Sciences  of  Re- 
ligion ' '  is  untranslatably  vile.  Sensuality  seems 
to  be  an  ineradicable  blot  on  the  pages  of  the 
best  Moslem  books.  In  Al  Ghazali 's  wonderful 
treatise  on  *^The  Names  and  Attributes  of 
God,"  he  has  one  section  which  is  exceedingly 
beautiful  on  the  avenues  of  approach  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Creator  through  nature  and 
revelation  and  even  the  knowledge  of  God 
through  absorption  or  experience.    Yet  in  this 


74      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

very  chapter  he  knows  of  no  better  illustration 
than  the  joys  of  coition,  which  cannot  be  appre- 
ciated by  one  who  is  born  impotent.  In  like 
manner  he  says,  we  cannot  appreciate  the  char- 
acter of  God  until  we  fully  experience  Him. 

Al  Ghazali  died  a.d.  1111,  but  the  world  of 
Islam  did  not  profit  much  from  his  teachings. 
For  seven  long  centuries  Moslem  kingdoms 
rose  and  fell,  rival  sects  engaged  in  internecine 
strife,  the  Ottoman  Turks  gained  and  lost 
provinces,  conditions  in  Morocco,  Persia,  and 
Afghanistan  continued  as  they  had  been,  and 
Islam  went  from  bad  to  worse.  The  reforms 
which  Al  Ghazali  had  been  unable  to  accom- 
plish by  the  pen,  another  great  leader  attempted 
to  achieve  by  the  sword.  If  it  was  impossible  to 
spiritualize  Islam,  could  the  Moslem  world  not 
be  reformed  by  going  back  to  Mohammed  and 
the  early  golden  days? 

The  rise  of  innumerable  heresies  as  the  result 
of  philosophical  speculation,  the  spread  of 
mysticism  among  the  learned  classes,  and  the 
return  to  many  heathen  superstitions  on  the 
part  of  the  masses  made  Islam  ripe  for  reform 
at  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Add 
to  this  that  there  was  a  general  decadence  of 
morals  under  the  Ottoman  caliphate  and  that 
there  had  been  a  lull  in  the  period  of  Moslem 
conquest.  Except  for  a  temporary  revival  of 
missionary  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Moslems 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     75 

in  China  and  the  spread  of  Islam  among  the 
Tartars,  the  eighteenth  century  saw  little  ad- 
vance for  the  Crescent.  Instead  of  conquest 
there  was  controversy.  Over  150  heretical 
Moslem  sects  are  enumerated  by  writers 
of  that  period.  Each  of  them  agreed  with^ 
the  words  of  Mohammed,  ascribed  to  him 
in  Tradition :  *  ^  My  people  will  be  divided  into 
seventy-three  sects ;  every  one  of  which  will  go 
to  hell  except  one  sect."^ 

All  these  sects  differed  either  in  their  ideas 
of  Allah  and  His  prophet's  revelation,  or  split 
hairs  on  free-will  and  destiny.  The  Abadiyah 
held  that  Ali  was  divine;  the  Safatites  taught 
the  grossest  anthropomorphism;  while  Sufism, 
which  arose  in  Persia,  was  so  thoroughly  pan- 
theistic that  it  seems  strange  to  find  rigid  mon- 
otheists  carried  away  by  its  teaching.  The  four 
orthodox  imams  were  at  agreement  concerning 
most  doctrines  but  differed  chiefly  in  their  genu- 
flections and  more  or  less  lax  interpretation  of 
ritual  precepts.  The  germs  of  idolatry  left  by 
Mohammed  in  his  system  bore  fruit.  Saint 
worship  in  some  form  or  other  had  become 
common  all  over  Arabia,  as  well  as  in  other 
Moslem  lands.  The  Shiahs  had  made  Kerbela 
the  rival  of  Mecca  and  Medina  as  a  place  of 
pilgrimage.  There  were  local  shrines  of  ^'holy 
men''  near  every  village.    The  whole  world  of 

*  «  Mishkat,"  Book  I,  Chap.  VI,  Part  II. 


76      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

thought  was  honeycombed  with  superstitions 
borrowed  from  every  conceivable  source;  even 
Buddhism  gave  its  rosary  to  Islam,  and  they 
had  already  passed  it  on  to  the  West.  The 
old-time  simplicity  of  life  and  morals  had  given 
way  to  pride,  luxury,  and  gross  sensuality. 
Burckhardt  testifies  regarding  Mecca  itself 
(which  has  always  been  to  the  pious  Moslem  the 
cynosure  of  his  faith)  that,  just  before  the  time 
of  the  Wahabi  reformation,  debauchery  was 
fearfully  common,  harlotry  and  even  unnatural 
vices  were  perpetrated  openly  in  the  sacred  city. 
Almsgiving  had  grown  obsolete;  justice  was 
neither  swift  nor  impartial ;  effeminacy  had  dis- 
placed the  martial  spirit,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
pilgrim  caravans  was  scandalous  in  the  ex- 
treme. 

XL   Attempts  to  Rid  of  Exceescences 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Arabia  when  Mo- 
hammed bin  Abdul- Wahab  bin  Mussherif  came 
as  a  reformer.  He  was  born  at  Wasit  in  Nejd, 
1691  A.D.  And  before  his  death  this  great  re- 
former, earnest  as  Luther  and  zealous  as  Crom- 
well, saw  his  doctrines  accepted  and  his  laws 
obeyed  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Yemen 
frontier.  As  the  result  of  his  teaching,  there 
sprang  up,  in  the  course  of  half  a  century,  not 
only  a  new,  widely  extended,  and  important 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE      77 

Moslem  sect,  but  an  independent  and  powerful 
state.  Abd-ul-Wahab  was  an  incarnate  whirl- 
wind of  Puritanism  against  the  prevailing 
apostasy  of  the  Moslem  world.  The  sect  which 
he  founded  and  which  took  its  popular  name 
from  him  was  a  protest  against  Moslem  idolatry 
and  superstition.  It  stood  for  no  new  doctrine, 
but  called  back  to  the  original  Islam.  Wahabi- 
ism  was  an  attempt  at  an  Arabian  reformation. 
Yet  so  far  from  giving  any  progressive  impulse 
to  the  Mohammedan  cult,  it  has  proved  the  most 
reactionary  element  in  the  history  of  Islam. 
This  purely  Semitic  and  unique  movement,  with 
all  its  energy,  has  produced  nothing  new;  it 
has  been  directed  exclusively  toward  the 
repristination  of  the  old  Moslem  monotheism. 
The  history  of  the  sect  shows  that  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  Moslem  world  by  a  return  to  primi- 
tive Islam  (in  theory  and  practice)  is  an 
impossibility,  even  when  aided  by  the  sword. 
Back  to  Christy  not  back  to  Mohammed — that 
is  the  only  hope  for  the  Moslem  world. 

Mohammed  bin  Abd-ul-Wahab  was  instructed 
from  his  youth  by  his  father  in  the  religion  of 
Islam  according  to  the  straightest  sect  of  the 
orthodox  Sunnis,  namely,  that  of  the  Imam  Abu 
Abdullah  Ahmed  bin  Hanbal.  Arrived  at  man- 
hood, the  serious  student  of  Islam  determined 
to  visit  other  schools  than  those  of  Nejd.  He 
went  to  Mecca,  and  afterward  also  to  Busrah 


78      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

and  Bagdad.  He  made  the  pilgrimage  to 
Mecca  and  visited  El  Medina,  but  in  neither 
place  did  he  find  the  ideal  Islam  for  which  his 
heart  was  longing.  He  felt  that  there  was  a 
wide  distinction  between  the  essential  elements 
of  Islam  and  the  recent  admixtures  of  dogma 
and  practice.  At  Ayinah  he  first  posed  as  a 
teacher  of  the  truth.  He  affirmed  the  right 
of  private  judgment  in  interpreting  the 
Koran  and  the  traditions  by  boldly  rejecting 
the  old-time  leading-strings  of  the  orthodox 
commentators.  His  teaching  met  with  opposi- 
tion from  the  outset,  but  there  were  also  those 
who  accepted  his  bold  position.  He  fled  from 
his  native  town  and  sought  refuge  at  Deraiah 
under  the  protection  of  Mohammed  bin  Saoud, 
a  chief  of  considerable  influence  and  great  am- 
bition. The  reformer  and  the  chief  found  that 
they  could  be  mutually  helpful  in  furthering 
each  the  interest  of  the  other.  A  marriage  al- 
liance, by  which  the  daughter  of  Abd-ul-Wahab 
became  the  wife  of  Mohammed  bin  Saoud,  sealed 
their  covenant.  The  preacher  with  his  book  and 
the  warrior  with  his  sword  now  stood  on  the 
same  platform  and  were  ready  to  begin  con- 
quest. Without  Mohammed  bin  Saoud  and  his 
powerful  dynasty  there  would  have  been  no 
Wahabi  conquest.  It  is  in  the  very  nature  of 
Islam  to  grasp  the  sword  which  the  Prophet 
himself   received   from   the   hands    of   Allah. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     79 

Partly  by  persuasion  and  partly  by  force  Saoud 
gained  victories  over  the  neighbouring  tribes, 
and  even  the  province  of  Hassa.  Before  his 
death,  in  1765,  the  whole  of  Nejd  was  one 
Wahabi  state.  Abd-ul-Aziz,  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor, a  more  able  warrior  than  his  father  and 
of  equal  ambition,  assumed  the  titles  of  Imam 
and  Sultan.  The  provinces  of  Arish  and 
Nejran,  to  the  south  of  Mecca,  were  added  to 
the  Wahabi  dominions.  Ghalib,  the  sheriff  of 
Mecca,  was  filled  with  alarm,  and,  on  his  com- 
plaint, the  Turkish  Government  sent  an  army 
of  5,000  men  to  lay  siege  to  Hofhuf ,  the  capital 
of  Hassa.  They  were  repulsed,  and  the  Wa- 
habis  now  took  the  initiative  by  advancing  to- 
ward Baghdad  and  laying  siege  to  Kerbela. 
The  town  was  stormed,  the  inhabitants  mas- 
sacred, and  spoils  of  immense  value  were  taken 
from  the  shrine  and  put  into  the  Wahabi 
treasury. 

Flushed  with  the  success  of  this  campaign 
against  the  idolatrous  Moslems  of  the  north, 
the  Wahabis  now  turned  toward  Mecca.  Taif, 
the  fertile  garden  city  near  to  Mecca,  was  sub- 
dued with  great  bloodshed,  and  in  a  few  months 
Mecca  itself  came  into  Wahabi  hands.  Ghalib 
fled  to  Jiddah,  which  was  the  only  place  in  all 
Hejaz  that  held  out  against  their  invasions. 
To  Saoud,  the  son  of  Abd-ul-Aziz,  was  given 
the  governorship  of  Mecca,  and  in  a  noteworthy 


80       THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

letter  he  dictated  to  the  Porte  the  terms  on 
which  alone  the  annual  pilgrimage  would  be 
permitted.  In  1804  Saoud  conquered  Medina, 
treating  the  inhabitants  with  great  severity  and 
plundering  all  the  riches  which  had  accumulated 
for  centuries  around  the  Prophet's  tomb.  The 
tomb  itself  barely  escaped  being  utterly  de- 
molished by  the  desert  iconoclasts,  who 
preached  a  thorough  reformation  and  butchered 
all  Turks  as  idolaters.  From  that  time  till  1811 
the  Wahabi  armies  made  incursions  into  Turk- 
ish territory  as  far  as  Damascus  and  Anah  on 
the  Euphrates.  The  Wahabis  on  the  Persian 
Gulf  began  to  use  their  reformed  Islam  as  a 
cloak  for  piracy,  and  two  expeditions  sent  from 
Bombay  broke  up  the  robber-nest  of  Ras-el- 
Kheymah,  and  taught  the  zealots  a  lesson  never 
since  forgotten.  The  so-called  pirate  coast  is 
now  under  British  protection,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants, although  still  Wahabis,  are  friendly  to 
Great  Britain. 

Meanwhile  (since  the  pilgrimage  to  the  holy 
cities  was  limited  to  those  who  embraced  the 
Wahabi  reform),  many  complaints  reached  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey.  After  some  futile  efforts  of 
his  own,  he  entrusted  the  task  of  conquering  the 
Wahabis  and  re-taking  Mecca  to  Mohammed  Ali 
Pasha,  his  already  over-powerful  Egyption 
vassal. 

ToussounBeg,  the  son  of  Mohammed  Ali, com- 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     81 

manded  the  first  expedition,  landing  at  Yenbo, 
the  port  of  Medina,  in  1811.  By  the  end  of  the 
following  year  Medina  was  taken.  The  troops 
made  a  fearful  massacre  of  the  Wahabi  garri- 
son and  the  inhabitants,  and  treacherously  mur- 
dered even  those  1,500  to  whom  they  had  prom- 
ised safe  conduct.  The  intrigues  of  Mohammed 
Ali  had,  meanwhile,  detached  the  Sheriff  Ghalib 
from  the  Wahabi  cause ;  and  Jiddah  was  occu- 
pied by  the  Turks  in  1813.  Mohammed  Ali  now 
came  over  in  person,  collected  a  large  army,  and 
in  1815  advanced  toward  Yemen.  Shortly  after 
Gunfidah,  a  small  town  on  the  Red  Sea,  was 
taken  by  the  army,  discontent  broke  out  among 
the  troops.  In  1814  Saoud,  the  second  of  that 
name  and  the  greatest  of  the  dynasty,  died  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Abdullah.  The  power 
of  the  Wahabi  state  had  already  suffered  seri- 
ous loss  during  Saoud 's  life  by  the  taking  of  the 
holy  cities.  After  his  death  other  losses  fol- 
lowed. The  Wahabi  forces  were  utterly  de- 
feated by  the  Turks  in  the  battle  of  Bessel.  This 
battle,  fought  on  the  26th  of  Moharram,  1230 
A.  H.  (January  7,  1815),  was  the  deciding  blow 
— one  of  the  great  battles  of  history^  The 
Wahabi  force  numbered  25,000  men — camel- 
riders,  infantry,  and  a  few  horsemen.  The 
Turks  had  artillery  and  with  it  drove  the  enemy 
out  of  their  mountain  position  into  the  open 
plain.    **As  soon  as  Mohammed  saw  the  enemy 


82      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

running,  he  proclaimed  among  his  troops  that 
six  dollars  should  be  given  for  every  Wahabi's 
head.  In  a  few  hours  five  thousand  were  piled 
before  him;  in  one  narrow  valley  fifteen  hun- 
dred Wahabis  had  been  surrounded  and  cut  to 
pieces.  Of  three  hundred  prisoners  taken, 
fifty  were  impaled  before  the  gates  of  Mecca; 
twelve  suffered  a  like  horrible  death  at 
every  one  of  the  coffee-houses  from  Mecca 
to  Jiddah,  and  the  rest  were  impaled  at  Jid- 
dah!  The  Turks  delighted  in  this  display  of 
disgusting  cruelty,  but  all  their  Bedouin  allies 
expressed  aloud  their  utmost  indignation." 
(Burckhardt.)  Mohammed  Ali  Pasha  returned 
to  Egypt ;  Toussoun  Pasha,  left  to  complete  the 
war,  concluded  a  peace  with  the  Wahabis,  but 
the  treaty  was  disavowed  both  at  Cairo  and 
Constantinople.  Ibrahim  Pasha  landed  at 
Yenbo  in  1816,  and  commenced  the  final  cam- 
paign. He  subdued  the  entire  province  of 
Kasim,  entered  Nejd,  and  in  April,  1818,  ap- 
peared before  the  walls  of  the  Wahabi  capital 
Deraiah.  The  city  was  taken  and  razed  to  the 
ground ;  Abdullah  was  carried  off  to  Constanti- 
nople and  publicly  executed  in  front  of  St. 
Sophia. 

After  this  the  boundaries  of  the  Wahabi  state 
although  narrower  still  embraced  Hassa,  the 
whole  of  Nejd,  Asir,  and  Kasim — one  broad  belt 
of  zealots  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Eed  Sea. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     83 

But  in  1870  the  aged  and  blind  Sultan  Feysul 
was  assassinated.  Dissension  broke  out  regard- 
ing his  successor,  and  the  result  was  Turkish 
interference  and  loss  to  the  Wahabi  state. 
Hassa  became  a  Turkish  province,  at  least  nom- 
inally, and  Hofhuf,  the  capital,  was  until  last 
year  occupied  by  a  Turkish  garrison.  On  the 
Yemen  side  Asir  also  was  annexed  to  Turkey 
and  the  rebellious  Arabs  crushed  under  a  yoke 
of  taxation. 

Since  then  Turkey  has  lost  her  power  in 
Arabia,  her  garrison  has  been  turned  out  of 
Hassa,  and  today  Central  Arabia  is  altogether 
governed  by  the  Ibn  Saoud  dynasty,  which  has 
no  regard  for  the  Turk,  and  is  in  close  relation- 
ship with  England. 

The  name  of  Wahabis  was  given  to  the  fol- 
lowers of  Mohammed  bin  Abd-ul-Wahab  by 
their  opponents.  They  called  themselves  by 
other  names,  such  as  Ahl-i-Hadith,  or  the  Peo- 
ple of  Tradition,  and  Muwahidin,  or  Unitarians. 
In  considering  the  distinctive  religious  tenets 
and  practices  of  the  Wahabis,  we  must  never 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  they  themselves  claim 
(and  claim  rightly)  to  possess  all  the  doctrines 
of  primitive  Islam  in  their  original  purity ;  and 
that  Abd-ul-Wahab  contended  not  for  new  views 
but  for  first  principles.  It  was  his  aim  to  de- 
molish utterly  everything  that  had  been  super- 
added to  the  original  revelation  of  Allah. 


84      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

The  firm  stand  taken  by  the  Wahabi  leaders 
on  the  original  foundation  of  Islam  has  ever 
been  their  strongest  argument  against  their 
opponents.  Burckhardt  writes:  *^If  further 
proof  were  required  that  the  Wahabis  are  very 
orthodox  Mussulmans,  their  catechism  would 
furnish  it.  When  Saoud  took  possession  of 
Mecca  he  distributed  copies  of  this  catechism 
among  the  inhabitants,  and  ordered  that  the 
pupils  in  public  schools  learn  it  by  heart.  Its 
contents  are  nothing  more  than  what  the  most 
orthodox  Turk  must  admit  to  be  true  .  .  .  and 
nothing  was  contained  in  this  catechism  which 
the  Meccans  had  not  already  learned.''^  This 
catechism  or  creed  of  the  Wahabis  (given  by 
Burckhardt  in  his  appendix  to  the  second  vol- 
ume), opens  with  the  usual  Unitarian  formula 
coupled  with  a  motto  from  Bokhari,  the  great 
traditionist :  **  First  learn,  then  speak,  then 
act.''  The  questions  and  answers  are  in  no 
way  remarkable  except  that  each  answer  is  ac- 
companied by  a  proof-text  from  the  Koran. 
The  division  of  the  little  tract  is  threefold  on 
the  knowledge  of  God,  the  knowledge  of  Islam, 
and  the  knowledge  of  our  Prophet  Mohammed. 
Concerning  Mohammed,  the  catechism  answer 
reads :  *  *  Mohammed,  may  God 's  mercy  be  upon 
him !  is  a  delegate  whom  we  dare  not  adore  and 
a  Prophet  whom  we  dare  not  belie ;  but  we  must 

*  "  Notes  on  the  Bedouins  and  Wahabis, "  Vol.  II,  p.  104. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     85 

obey  and  follow  him,  for  it  has  been  ordained 
to  spirits  and  to  mortals  to  be  his  followers. 
He  was  born  and  appointed  a  prophet  at  Mecca ; 
his  flight  and  death  were  at  Medina.  If  it  be 
asked,  is  he  mortal?  answer.  Yes,  he  is  mortal. 
In  proof  of  which  we  read,  *Say  I  am  but  a 
mortal  like  yourselves,  to  whom  it  is  revealed 
that  your  God  is  but  one  God.'  ''  Here  are 
some  points  on  which  the  Wahabis  are  dis- 
tinguished from  other  Moslems: 

1.  They  do  not  receive  the  dogmatic  deci- 
sions of  the  four  Imams  (founders  of  the  chief 
system  of  interpretation),  but  say  that  any  man 
who  can  read  and  understand  the  Koran  has 
the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  can  inter- 
pret the  Koran  and  the  Traditions  for  himself. 
They  therefore  reject  Ijma'  i.e,,  **the  unani- 
mous consent  of  the  fathers,''  after  the  death  of 
the  Companions  of  the  Prophet. 

2.  Their  monotheism  is  practical,  not  theo- 
retical, as  among  other  Moslems.  Prayers 
should  not  be  offered  to  any  prophet,  weli,  or 
saint.  Palgrave's  matchless  description  of 
Allah,  as  ^Hhe  pantheism  of  force,"  in  all  its 
remarkable  analytical  detail  applies  rather  to 
the  Wahabis  than  to  Moslems  in  general.  (See 
' '  Travels  in  Central  and  Eastern  Arabia, ' '  Vol. 
1:365.) 

3.  Together  with  this  absolute  monotheism 
they  me  accused,  not  without  cause,  of  having 


86      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

crude  and  anthropomorphic  ideas  of  deity. 
They  understand  the  terms  ^'sitting  of  God" 
(Istawa  alal  Arsh)  and  *^hand  of  God'^  (Yed 
Allah)  in  their  literal  sense.  This  teaching  is 
cause  of  offence  to  other  Moslems,  many  of 
whom  designate  the  doctrine  as  hufr  (infi- 
delity). 

4.  Eegarding  Mohammed's  intercession,  they 
differ  from  other  Moslems  in  holding  that  it  is 
impossible  now,  although  it  will  be  possible  on 
the  day  of  judgment. 

5.  They  think  it  wrong  to  build  cupolas  over 
graves  or  to  honour  the  dead  in  any  way,  such 
as  by  illuminations  or  by  visiting  their  tombs. 
Even  the  tomb  of  Mohammed  is  no  exception. 

6.  They  are  accused,  rightly  or  wrongly,  of 
holding  that  certain  portions  of  the  original 
Koran  were  abstracted  by  Othman  out  of  envy 
when  he  made  his  recension  superseding  all 
other  copies  extant.^ 

7.  They  observe  four  festivals  only,  namely, 
'Id  el  Fitr,  after  the  fast  month ;  'Id  el  Asha  or 
feast  of  sacrifice  at  the  Haj j ;  'Ashura,  the  tenth 
day  of  Moharram,  on  which  God  created  Adam 
and  Eve ;  and  Lailat  el  Muharalcat,  the  night  on 
which  the  Koran  descended.  The  anniversary 
of  the  Prophet's  birth  they  do  not  observe,  nor 
any  of  the  other  feasts  and  holy  days  of  Islam. 

*"  History  of  Imams  and  Seyyids  of  Oman,"  by  Salil  bin 
Razik,  pp.  252,  253. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     87 

8.  They  forbid  the  use  of  prayer  beads  or 
rosaries,  and  instead  count  prayers  and  the 
names  of  God  on  the  knuckles  of  their  hands 
with  the  thumb. 

9.  In  the  matter  of  dress  they  advocate  a  re- 
turn to  early  Arabian  simplicity.  All  silk, 
jewels,  silver  or  gold  ornaments,  and  other  than 
Arabian  dress,  are  an  abomination  to  God  and 
to  His  Prophet. 

10.  Even  in  food  and  drink  they  are  dis- 
tinguished from  other  Moslems.  The  lawful- 
ness of  tobacco  has  always  been  a  disputed  point 
among  Moslem  theologians,  but  the  Wahabi  re- 
former puts  tobacco-smoking  under  the  cate- 
gory of  greater  sins,  and  the  weed  is  known  by 
the  name  of  ^Hhe  shameful,"  or  by  a  still  worse 
and  untranslatable  epithet  which  implies  a 
purely  Satanic  origin  for  the  plant.  All  in- 
toxicants not  only,  but  all  drugs  that  stupefy 
or  benumb,  are  under  the  ban.  The  Kaat-plant 
of  Yemen  (Catha  edulis)  is  also  forbidden 
food. 

11.  Wahabi  mosques  are  built  with  the  great- 
est simplicity.  No  minarets  are  allowed,  and 
only  bare  walls  ornament  the  place  of  prayer. 

12.  The  Spanish  renegade,  Ali  Bey,  details 
another  interesting  point  of  difference.  Mos- 
lems are  accustomed  to  leave  a  lock  of  hair  on 
the  crown  of  their  head  when  shaving  it.  As 
this  is  based  on  a  superstitious  belief  that  they 


88      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

will  be  caught  up  by  this  lock  of  hair  to  heaven 
on  the  last  day,  Abd-ul-Wahab  forbade  the  prac- 
tice sternly. 

13.  The  Wahabis  lay  great  stress  on  the  doc- 
trine of  jihad.  To  fight  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered with  sword  and  spear  and  matchlock 
was  to  them  a  divinely  imposed  duty,  a  com- 
mand of  God  never  to  be  abrogated.  In  all 
their  bloody  warfare  they  never  were  known  to 
grant  quarter  to  a  Turk  (Burckhardt).  They 
keep  this  precept  of  their  Prophet  diligently, 
^*Kill  the  unbelievers  wherever  ye  find 
them." 

Other  points  of  difference  there  are  of  less 
importance,  and  some  of  such  trivial  character 
as  to  be  ridiculous.  But  enough  have  been 
enumerated  to  show  that  the  Wahabis  are  not 
altogether  like  *^ orthodox''  Moslems.  It  is  evi- 
dent from  these  teachings  why  some  European 
writers  have  called  the  Wahabi  movement  the 
Eastern  Keformation.  It  did  indeed  resemble 
the  Eef  ormation  under  Luther  in  three  respects. 
It  was  iconoclastic  and  waged  war  against  every 
form  of  saint  worship.  It  acknowledged  the 
right  of  private  judgment  and  demanded  a  re- 
turn to  primitive  beliefs.  It  was  fruitful  in  re- 
sults beyond  its  own  horizon.  **Just  as  the 
Lutheran  Keformation  in  Europe,  although  it 
failed  to  convert  the  Catholic  Church,  caused 
its  real  reform,  so  Wahabiism  has  produced  a 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     89 

real  desire  for  reform,  if  not  reform  itself,  in 
Mussulmans."^ 

But  in  spite  of  these  points  of  resemblance 
the  Wahabi  movement  differed  utterly  from  the 
Protestant  Eef ormation  in  that  it  was  from  the 
outset  antagonistic  to  free  thought  and  the 
progress  of  civilization.  It  was  an  advance 
backward  and  progress  toward  an  impasse, 
Luther  emancipated  the  intellect;  Abd-ul- 
Wahab  enchained  it.  The  European  Reforma- 
tion was  accompanied  by  a  revival  of  learning. 
The  Arabian  Reformation  was  a  retrogression 
to  *'the  time  of  ignorance.''  The  one  used  the 
*^ Sword  of  the  Spirit,"  the  other  the  sword  of 
steel.  The  one  was  eminently  practical,  the 
other  fanatical.  And  above  and  beyond  all  this, 
the  results  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation  were 
incalculably  greater  in  every  way  than  the  ef- 
forts at  reform  made  by  the  Arabian  Moslems. 

Before  we  dismiss  this  division  of  our  sub- 
ject, a  few  words  regarding  the  character  of  the 
Wahabi  government  are  necessary.  Their  ideal 
state  was  founded  on  the  old  method  of  the 
Koran  and  the  sword.  In  not  passing  over  this 
element  of  Islam  they  were  truly  consistent 
with  the  teaching  and  example  of  their  Prophet. 
This  we  have  already  referred  to  in  enumerat- 
ing their  teachings,  but  it  is  worthy  of  emphasis, 
and,  therefore,  we  repeat  it.    The  Wahabis  be- 

*  Blunt,  "  Future  of  Islam." 


90      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

lieved  in  jihad  (holy  war).  Modern  apologists 
for  Islam  try  to  eliminate  all  idea  of  warfare  or 
killing  from  this  word/  but  the  Wahabis  knew 
Arabic  better  and  understood  the  spirit  of  their 
Prophet  and  his  book  perfectly.  The  Wahabi 
state  strictly  enforced  the  Koran  precept  con- 
cerning the  duty  of  military  service.  The 
strictest  police  regulations  were  observed  in 
camp;  after  the  surrender  of  Mecca  soldiers 
were  seen  running  about  with  lost  articles  seek- 
ing for  their  owners!  Public  education  had 
no  mean  place  in  the  Wahabi  state.  Schools 
were  everywhere  established  and  teachers  sent 
even  to  the  Bedouin  tribes ;  although,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  the  instruction  was  elementary, 
its  widespread  results  are  yet  apparent  in  many 
districts  of  Central  Arabia.  The  Wahabi  gov- 
ernment also  endeavoured  to  improve  the  status 
of  Bedouin  society  by  abolishing  the  system  of 
blood  revenge,  and  tried  to  make  the  Arabs  con- 
tent with  a  money  payment  for  the  blood  of  a 


*  T.  W.  Arnold,  in  his  "  Preaching  of  Islam,"  is  the  latest  to 
attempt  this  impossibility.  Following  the  lead  of  Maulavi 
Cheragh  Ali  (Calcutta,  1885),  he  tries  to  show  that  all  the 
wars  of  Mohammed  were  defensive,  and  that  aggressive  war 
or  compulsory  conversion  is  not  allowed  in  the  Koran.  He 
gives  all  the  passages  in  which  the  word  jihad  occurs  and 
carefully  omits  the  passages  where  katala  (to  kill)  is  used 
to  enjoin  the  same  duty.  It  is  a  sorry  attempt  to  prove  that 
which  is  contradicted  not  only  by  all  Arabic  lexicographers,  but 
by  the  history  of  Islam  from  the  days  of  Badr  to  the  late 
Armenian  massacres, — ^not  to  speak  of  the  interpretation  given 
of  jihad  by  Abd-ul-Wahab  and  his  fiery  warriors,  who  professed 
primitive  Islam. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     91 

relation.  The  right  of  daJchil  or  refuge  was 
abolished  in  every  ease  where  it  might  be  used 
to  screen  a  criminal  from  the  hand  of  justice. 
Wealthy  individuals  and  those  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances paid  proportionately  in  the  taxes, 
and  the  Wahabi  state  is  perhaps  the  only 
Oriental  despotism  that  ever  granted  security 
to  the  rich  from  the  rapacity  of  government 
(Burckhardt,  p.  142).  Many  of  the  Wahabi 
laws  are  given  by  Burckhardt  in  detail,  but  they 
are  all  founded  upon  the  early  practice  of  the 
Prophet  and  the  caliphs,  and  consist  of  a  list 
of  graded  penalties  for  various  crimes  against 
God  and  the  State. 

All  of  the  above  particulars  refer  to  the 
Wahabi  state  when  in  its  glory.  It  soon  fell 
into  decay.  Yet,  although  the  great  hall  of 
justice  at  Riadh  has  fallen  into  ruins,  and  the 
Saoud  dynasty  is  for  ever  at  an  end,  the  idea 
of  a  purely  Moslem  state  founded  on  the  sword 
lived  on;  and  it  will  always  continue  the  in- 
spiration of  every  restless  fanatic  who  desires 
power  for  himself  by  reforming  Islam  and 
butchering  unbelievers. 

According  to  Arnold  (** Preaching  of  Islam,'' 
p.  230)  the  remarkable  revival  of  the  Moslem 
faith  in  Bengal  was  due  to  Wahabi  influence. 
**  Nineteen  years  ago  in  Bengal  proper  Hindus 
numbered  nearly  half  a  million  more  than  Mos- 
lems did,  and  in  the  space  of  less  than  two 


92      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

decades,  the  Moslems  have  not  only  overtaken 
the  Hindus,  but  have  surpassed  them  by  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half.'' 

In  Arabia  the  chief  strongholds  of  the  Wa- 
habis  are  along  the  Oman  coast  of  the  Persian 
Gulf,  especially  Sharga,  Abu-Thabi,  and  Eas  el 
Kheyma;  and  also  in  'Ajman  and  the  Wady 
Dowasir  district.  In  the  latter  place  they  still 
preserve  all  their  old-time  beliefs  and  fanati- 
cism. In  the  rest  of  Arabia  their  numbers  have 
greatly  diminished,  their  zeal  has  waxed  cold, 
and  many  of  the  precepts  of  their  leader  are 
disregarded.  Western  life  (through  trade  and 
passing  caravans  of  pilgrims)  has  reached  even 
here  with  its  urbane  influence.  Many  of  the 
Wahabis  have  again  begun  to  smoke  ^Hhe 
shameful"  and  wear  silk  head-dress;  for  Epi- 
cureanism was  ever  more  congenial  to  the  Arab 
mind  than  Puritanism.  The  Nejd,  which  was 
once  a  stronghold  of  Wahabi  doctrine,  now  har- 
bours the  Shiahs,  and  the  government  is,  in  a 
Moslem  sense,  liberal.  Hassa  and  Bahrein  once 
had  hundreds  of  Wahabi  mosques,  but  most  of 
them  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  other  sects 
for  want  of  worshippers. 

Most  remarkable  is  the  story  of  Wahabi  mis- 
sionary zeal  in  the  Sudan  under  Sheikh  Othman 
Donfodio,  as  told  by  Arnold.  Making  a  pil- 
grimage to  Mecca  at  the  time  of  the  Wahabi 
occupation,  this  man  was  converted  to  their 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     93 

views  and  returned  to  the  Sudan  to  inaugurate 
reform.  He  united  the  scattered  clans  of  the 
Fulahs  into  one  Moslem  army  and  marched 
against  the  heathen  tribes  of  Hausa.  He  also 
sent  letters  (a  la  Mohammed)  to  the  kings  of 
Timbuctu  and  Bornu  commanding  them  to  re- 
form their  lives  or  receive  the  punishment  of 
Allah  at  his  hands.  The  army  enforced  his 
demands,  and  Sokoto  became  the  capital  of  a 
Moslem  state.  In  1837  Adamawa  was  founded 
on  the  ruins  of  several  pagan  settlements.  To- 
day the  most  zealous  propagandists  of  Islam 
are  the  Fulah  missionaries.^ 

In  Egypt  and  Turkey  the  number  of  Wahabis 
is  not  large.  In  Persia,  as  far  as  I  can  learn, 
there  is  only  one  place  where  they  are  found — a 
small  colony  of  Arabs  from  Nejd  live  north  of 
Linga,  on  the  Persian  Gulf.  Central  Asia  (with 
the  exception  of  parts  of  Afghanistan)  and 
China  were  never  much  influenced  by  the  Wa- 
habi  reform. 

As  an  indirect  result  of  the  Wahabi  movement 
we  may  count  many  of  the  Moslem  brother- 
hoods, or  the  so-called  religious  orders  of  Islam. 
The  Senoussi  dervishes  especially  seem  to  have 
borrowed  many  of  their  distinctive  marks  from 
the  Wahabis.  With  them,  too,  tobacco  is 
strictly  forbidden ;  they  prohibit  pilgrimage  to 
the  tombs  of  saints;  luxuries  of  dress  are  for- 

» See  S.  W.  Koelle*s  "  Polyglotta  Africana,"  p.  18. 


94      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

bidden,  and  war  against  infidels  is  a  duty ;  inter- 
course with  Jews  or  Christians  is  not  permitted ; 
and  the  ideal  state  is  one  of  Moslems  only. 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  Wahabi  reforma- 
tion and  its  results  to  Christian  missions  among 
Moslems!  The  most  unfavourable  result  has 
been  in  Arabia  itself,  by  practically  building  a 
wall  of  fanaticism  around  the  old  Wahabi  state, 
and  postponing  the  opening  of  the  doors  to 
commerce  and  Christianity  in  that  part  of  the 
peninsula.  On  the  other  hand,  the  positive  and 
negative  results  of  the  Wahabi  movement  on 
Moslem  thought  have,  I  think,  had  favourable 
effect  on  Christian  missions.  Islam  in  its  primi- 
tive state  is  nearer  the  truth  than  Islam  with  all 
its  added  superstitions  and  additions  of  later 
date.  The  Koran  can  more  easily  be  made  our 
ally  in  the  battle  for  the  Gospel  than  the  inter- 
pretations of  the  four  Imams. 

Negatively,  Wahabiism  is  a  strong  argument 
that  Islam  even  when  reformed  to  its  original 
purity,  has  no  power  to  save  a  people.  There 
is  no  better  polemic  against  Islam  than  a  pres- 
entation of  the  present  intellectual,  social,  and 
moral  condition  of  Arabia.  Cradled  at  Mecca, 
fostered  at  Medina,  and  reformed  at  Deraiah, 
the  creed  of  Islam  has  had  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  the  entire  peninsula  almost  since  its 
birth.  In  other  lands,  such  as  Syria  and  Egypt, 
it  remained  in  contact  with  a  corrupt  form  of 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     95 

Christianity,  or,  as  in  India  and  China,  in  con- 
flict with  cultured  paganism,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  both  cases  there  were  (and  are 
today)  mutual  concessions  and  influences.  But 
in  its  native  Arabian  soil  the  tree  planted  by 
the  Prophet  has  grown  with  wild  freedom,  and 
brought  forth  fruit  after  its  kind.  ^*By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them^'  is  Christ's  criterion 
in  the  study  of  comparative  religions.  As  re- 
gards morality,  Arabia  is  on  a  low  plane.  Slav- 
ery and  concubinage  exist  everywhere;  polyg- 
amy and  divorce  are  common.  The  conscience 
is  petrifled ;  legality  is  the  highest  form  of  wor- 
ship; virtue  is  to  be  like  the  Prophet.  The 
Arabic  language  has  no  everyday  word  for  con- 
science, and  the  present  book-term  does  not  even 
occur  in  the  Koran.  Intellectually,  there  has 
been  little  progress  since  ^*the  time  of  igno- 
rance," when  all  the  tribes  gathered  at  Okatz 
to  compete  in  poetry  and  eloquence.  The 
Bedouins  are  nearly  all  illiterate;  their  only 
writing  is  the  brand-mark  on  camels.  Book- 
learning  in  the  towns  is  compressed  into  the 
narrow  mould  of  Koran  philosophy.  Kufa, 
which  was  once  the  Oxford  of  Arabia,  now  has 
one  day  school  with  twelve  pupils !  Fatalism, 
the  philosophy  of  the  masses,  has  paralyzed 
progress.  Hope  perishes  under  the  weight  of 
this  iron  bondage.  Injustice  is  stoically  ac- 
cepted.  The  bulk  of  the  people  are  passive.   No 


96      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

man  bears  another's  burden,  and  there  is  no 
public  spirit.  Treachery  and  murder  are  the 
steps  to  petty  thrones  in  free  Arabia,  and  in  the 
Turkish  provinces  justice  is  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder.  Cruelty  is  common.  Lying  is  a  fine 
art,  and  robbery  a  science.  Islam  and  the 
Wahabis  have  made  the  hospitable  Arabs  hos- 
tile to  Christians  and  wary  of  strangers.  Over 
all  this  hangs  a  cloak  of  self -righteousness  and 
formal  observances.  There  is  no  soporific  like 
the  Koran;  nothing  is  so  well  designed  to  hush 
the  heart 's  questionings  as  a  religion  that  denies 
the  need  of  an  atonement,  and  promises  Para- 
dise to  those  who  accept  the  creed  of  eight 
words,  no  matter  what  their  life  may  be.  There 
is  no  hope  for  Arabia  in  Islam.  It  has  been 
tried  for  1,300  years,  and  piteously  failed. 
The  Wahabis  and  their  history  only  emphasize 
this  fact. 

III.  Syncretism 
The  Wahabis  tried  to  reform  Islam  by  going 
back  to  Mohammed,  Al  Grhazali,  and  the  Sufis 
by  spiritualizing  the  traditions.  We  now  come 
briefly  to  the  third  attempt  to  save  Islam  at  any 
cost,  namely,  that  of  syncretism,  and  we  may 
well  believe  that  this  is  the  beginning  of  the 
end.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the  second  and 
third  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  when  heath- 
enism was  about  to  fall,  its  last  effort  to  re- 
cover footing  was  by  the  adoption  of  Persian, 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     97 

Indian,  and  Jewish  teaching.  Dr.  Schaff 
calls  it  *Hhe  sunset  glow^'  of  heathenism,  when 
**men  turned  wistfully  to  the  past,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  mysterious  East,  the  land  of  primi- 
tive wisdom  and  religion  .  .  .  and  all  sorts  of 
religions,  and  all  the  sense  and  all  the  non- 
sense of  antiquity  found  a  rendezvous  at 
Rome. ' '  History  is  repeating  itself.  Wherever 
Islam  is  in  close  touch  with  Christianity,  new 
sects  have  arisen.  Babism,  Bahaism,  and 
Qadianism  are  outstanding  examples.  Each  of 
them  and  many  other  movements  less  promi- 
nent and  less  permanent  are  attempts  to  in- 
troduce Christian  ethics  into  Islam,  to  redeem 
Islam  from  its  mediaeval  character  and  to  fulfil 
the  hopes  of  Moslems  by  the  proclamation  of 
new  religious  leaders,  Mahdis  or  Messiahs,  who 
are  inspired  of  God  and  are  successors  of  Mo- 
hammed. All  of  them  are  Moslem  sects,  how- 
ever widely  they  may  have  departed  from  Islam 
as  taught  in  the  Koran  and  in  tradition.  None 
of  these  movements  has  abandoned  either  article 
of  the  Moslem  creed.  Jesus  remains  to  them 
also  only  one  among  many  prophets,  and  His 
teachings  are  not  supreme  or  authoritative. 
Mohammed  and  Mecca  continue  to  stand  domi- 
nant in  the  history  of  religion.  Even  the 
Bahais  turn  to  Mecca  in  prayer,  and  the 
Qadiana  Moslems  of  London  and  Woking  pro- 
fess to  believ©  that  the  ethics  of  the  Koran  is 


98      THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 


superior  to  that  of  the  Bible.  A  recent  num- 
ber of  their  paper  sets  this  forth  in  striking 
fashion,  utterly  regardless  of  the  context  or 
the  truth  of  their  assertions. 

**FouR  Verses  from  the  Bible  and  Four  from  the 
Quran 


TJie  Bible 

1.  *  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  Put  every 
man  his  sword  by  his  side, 
and  go  in  and  out  from 
gate  to  gate  throughout  the 
camp,  and  slay  every  man 
his  brother  and  every  man 
his  companion  and  every 
man  his  neighbour.  * 

(Ex.  32:27.) 

2.  *  Spare  them  not  but 
slay  both  man  and  woman, 
infant  and  suckling.' 

(1  Sam.  15:3.) 


3.  *Slay  utterly  old  and 
young,  both  maids  and  lit- 
tle children.' 

(Ezek.  9:6.) 


TJie  Quran 
*  There  is  no  compul- 
sion in  religion;  for  the 
right  way  hath  been 
made  distinct  from  the 
wrong. ' 

(2:257.) 


'Fight  in  God's  way 
with  those  who  fight 
with  you,  but  trans- 
gress not:  verily  God 
loveth  not  those  who 
transgress. ' 

'Whoso  kills  a  soul, 
unless  it  be  for  another 
soul,  or  for  violence  in 
the  land,  it  is  as  though 
he  had  killed  men  alto- 
gether ;  but  whoso  saves 
one,  it  is  as  though  he 
saved  men  altogether.' 
(v.  35.) 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE     90 

4.  *  Cursed    be    he    that         *And  the  servants  of 

keepeth    back    his    sword     the  Merciful  are  those 

from  blood.'  who  walk  on  earth  with 

(Jer.  48: 10.)  meekness,  and  when  the 

ignorant   address   them 

they  say,  Peace.'  '' 

One  has  only  to  read  such  magazines  as  the 
Islamic  Review,  published  in  London,  or  The  Re- 
view of  Religions,  published  in  North  India,  to 
have  constant  examples  of  this  method  of  apolo- 
getic and  controversy.  Some  of  the  educated  In- 
dians go  even  further.  Mr.  F.  K.  Brown  of  Forest 
Hill,  England,  writes  that  he  heard  a  lecturer, 
Yusuf  Ali,  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  argue 
that  the  regeneration  of  Moslem  India  was  to 
be  found  in  the  provision  of  an  educated  min- 
istry and  the  adoption  of  the  Congregational 
system  of  Church  polity,  the  mosque  to  become 
both  the  social  and  the  educational  centre  of 
the  people;  but  the  prospect  seemed  to  him 
wholly  chimerical — an  impossible  blend  of  the 
distinctive  systems  of  Christianity  with  the 
rigid  ritual  of  the  Moslem  faith. 

Another  curious  example  of  syncretism  in 
India  is  that  of  the  Nazarene  New  Church, 
which  society  would  mingle  Islam  and  Chris- 
tianity in  a  Unitarian  belief.  It  was  founded 
by  Mr.  E.  J.  S.  White,  a  government  servant, 
who  became  interested  in  Islam  and  held  that 
it  was  really  a  revival  or  continuation  of  the 


100    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Nazarene  or  Ebionite  sect,  maintaining  His 
pure  doctrines  which  were  corrupted  by  Paul. 
Mr.  White,  followed  afterwards  by  Mr.  Snow, 
an  Eurasian  of  Hyderabad,  established  there- 
fore the  New  Nazarene  Church  and  published  a 
number  of  pamphlets.  His  followers  are  not 
numerous  and  the  movement  is  dying  out. 
Their  Prayer  Book  for  Muslims  was  published 
at  Lahore  in  1893  and  contained  also  adapta- 
tions of  Christian  song.  The  following  speci- 
mens will  be  of  interest. 


**  XXI.    Special  Prayer 

O  God  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  man- 
kind we  humbly  beseech  Thee  for  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men,  that  Thou  wouldst  be  pleased  to 
make  Thy  ways  known  unto  them,  Thy  saving 
Health  and  True  Faith  unto  all  nations.  More  espe- 
cially we  pray  for  the  good  estate  of  this  *New 
Church  of  Islam/  that  it  may  be  so  guided  and 
governed  according  to  the  precepts  of  the  holy 
Koran,  and  that  further  all  those  who  profess  and 
call  themselves  Deists  or  Unitarians  may  be  gradu- 
ally led  into  the  way  of  Thy  Truth  and  hold  the 
Faith  in  unity  of  spirit,  bond  of  peace. '^ 

''XXIII.    Islam 

"Prom  England's  wintry  climate, 
From  China's  picturesque  land, 
And  Africa's  sun-burnt  brunetteo  [sic] 
Look  up  and  hold  their  hand; 


J    * 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE   101 

From  Transvaal  and  from  Burma, 

Comes  forth  an  earnest  strain,  ' 

They  call  us  to  deliver, 

Their  lands  from  error's  chain. 

"God's  purposes  they  ripen  fast. 
Unfolded  every  hour, 
The  bud  may  have  a  bitter  taste. 
But  sweet  will  be  the  flower. 
Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err. 
And  criticise  in  vain, 
God  is  His  own  interpreter, 
And  Ahmed  makes  Him  plain.'* 

This  White  and  Snow  example  of  syncretism 
has  apparently  had  only  a  short  lease  of  life. 
Other  movements  in  India  have  been  more  suc- 
cessful. A  sect  which  claims  to  have  500,000 
members  in  various  parts  of  India  is  the 
Ahmadiya.  It  was  founded  in  1889  by  Mirza 
Ghulam  AJimad,  who  was  born  at  Qadian  near 
Batala  about  fifty  years  earlier.  He  claimed  to 
be  the  promised  Mahdi  of  the  Moslems,  the 
Messiah  of  the  Christians,  and  the  Avatar  of 
the  Hindus;  and  taught  that  Mohammed  re- 
vealed the  same  great  truths  as  are  contained  in 
other  religions  and  embodied  them  in  the  Koran. 
Mr.  O^Malley  writes  of  the  cult  in  the  Census 
Report: 

**One  significant  feature  of  the  cult  is  its  opposi- 
tion to  Christianity.  According  to  Musalnian  belief, 
when  the  end  of  the  world  approaches,  Dajjal  (Anti- 
Christ)  will  rule,  and  the  powers  of  evil  will  reign 
till  Christ  reappears,  and,  with  the  help  of  Mahdi, 


102    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

overthrows  Dajjal  and  converts  the  whole  world  to 
Islam.  The  Ahmadia  rejects  this  doctrine  and  iden- 
tifies Dajjal  with  the  teachings  of  the  Christian 
Church,  such  as  the  atonement  and  the  divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ.  In  fact,  he  holds  that  the  prophecy 
of  the  advent  of  Dajjal  has  been  fulfilled  by  the 
spread  of  Christian  missionaries.  *' 


It  is  unnecessary,  however,  here  to  give  a 
special  outline  of  the  Ahmadiya  teaching.  This 
has  been  done  most  thoroughly  by  Dr.  Gris- 
wold  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission  at 
Lahore.  The  latest  news  in  regard  to  the 
movement  is  contained  in  their  own  magazine, 
The  Review  of  Religions,  where  we  read  that 
recently  they  have  had  over  one  thousand  con- 
verts. The  programme  of  their  activities  is  out- 
lined as  follows: 

1.  The  establishment  of  primary  schools  in 
various  districts  of  the  Punjab. 

2.  The  establishment  of  a  Training  College 
for  Moslem  Missionaries  at  Qadian. 

3.  Translation  of  the  Holy  Quran  with 
copious  notes,  both  in  Urdu  and  English. 

4.  The  sending  out  of  Missionaries  not  only 
to  various  parts  of  India  but  also  to  foreign 
countries. 

5.  The  preparation  and  circulation  of 
pamphlets  on  the  truth  of  Islam. 


THE  REVOLT  AND  ITS  FAILURE   103 

6.  Correspondence  with  seekers  after  truth' 
all  over  the  world. 

7.  Reclamation  of  criminal  tribes  with  the 
aid  of  the  Government/ 

The  Babis  and  Bahais  are  other  illustrations 
of  syncretism,  but  we  have  no  space  to  treat  of 
these  movements  here.  They  profess  to  be  more 
Christian  than  Moslem,  although  the  Reverend 
S.  G.  Wilson,  D.D.,  has  shown  in  his  recent  care- 
ful investigations  that  in  every  respect  their 
ethics  is  inferior  to  that  of  Christianity  and 
in  some  respects  is  even  inferior  to  the  old 
Islam.^ 

Our  study  of  all  these  attempts  at  reform 
ends  in  disappointment.  Neither  Mysticism,  nor 
Wahabiism,  nor  Syncretism  can  save  Islam,  and 
yet  all  of  these  attempts  are  proof  of  the  inner 
revolt  against  the  dead  weight  of  Tradition  and 
the  dissatisfaction  of  the  human  soul.  The 
Mystic  sought  a  way  to  God  surer  and  swifter 
than  by  the  accumulation  of  merit  through 
prayer  and  fasting.  Others  have  substituted 
mediators  of  their  own  for  the  great  Mediator 
and  the  only  atonement,  of  which  Islam  is  igno- 
rant. One  cannot  read  the  pages  of  these 
mystics  or  study  the  rise  of  these  new  sects 
without  finding  in  them  the  cry  of  prodigals 
who  are  yet  a  great  way  off. 

^Review  of  Religions,  April,  1915,  p.  157. 

» Cf .  "  Bahaism,"  by  S.  G.  Wilson.    Fleming  H.  Revell  Co. 


104    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

"Far  and  wide,  though  all  unknowing, 

Pants  for  Thee  each  mortal  breast; 
Human  tears  for  Thee  are  flowing, 

Human  hearts  in  Thee  would  rest. 
Thirsting,  as  for  dews  of  even. 

As  the  new-mown  grass  for  rain. 
Thee  they  seek  as  GJod  of  heaven, 

Thee  as  Man  for  sinners  slain. 

"Saviour,  lo!  the  isles  are  waiting. 

Stretched  the  hand  and  strained  the  sight. 
For  Thy  Spirit,  new  creating, 

Love's  pure  flame,  and  wisdom's  light; 
Give  the  word,  and  of  the  preacher 

Speed  the  foot  and  touch  the  tongue, 
Till  on  earth  by  every  creature 

Glory  to  the  Lamb  be  sung." 


Ill 

THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE 


"The  Truth  is  that,  in  passing  through  the  European  edu- 
cational mill,  the  young  Egyptian  Moslem  loses  his  Islamism, 
or,  at  all  events,  he  loses  the  best  part  of  it.  He  cuts  him- 
self adrift  from  the  sheet-anchor  of  his  creed.  He  no  longer 
believes  that  he  is  always  in  the  presence  of  his  Creator  to 
whom  he  will  some  day  have  to  render  an  account  of  his 
actions.  .  .  .  More  than  this,  although  the  Europeanized  Egyp- 
tian is  no  true  Moslem,  he  is  often  as  intolerant,  and  some- 
times even  more  intolerant  of  Christianity  than  the  old  ortho- 
dox Moslem,  who  has  received  no  European  education.  .  .  . 
European  civilization  destroys  one  religion  without  substituting 
another  in  its  place.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  code 
of  Christian  morality,  on  which  European  civilization  is  based 
can  be  dissociated  from  the  teaching  of  the  Christian  religion." 
— The  Eabl  of  Cbomer  :  "  Modern  Egypt." 

"  It  is  particularly  to  be  hoped,  at  a  time  when  public  in- 
terest has  been  prominently  drawn  to  the  relations  and  the 
territories  of  the  European  Powers  in  West  Africa,  that  more 
attention  will  be  paid  in  England  to  the  extent  and  nature  of 
our  responsibilities  in  that  region.  Nigeria  is  not  merely  by 
far  the  most  considerable  of  our  West  African  possessions,  but 
the  only  British  Dependency  in  any  part  of  the  world  which 
approaches  the  Indian  Empire  in  magnitude  and  variety." — 
The  Times,  August  12,  1911. 


m 

THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE 

And  in  the  days  of  those  kings  shall  the  Ood  of 
heaven  set  up  a  kingdom  which  shall  never  he  de- 
stroyed, nor  shall  the  sovereignty  thereof  be  left  to 
another  people;  but  it  shall  break  in  pieces  and  con- 
sume all  these  kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  forever. 
Forasmuch  as  thou  sawest  that  a  stone  was  cut  out 
of  the  mountain  unthout  hands,  and  that  it  brake 
in  pieces  the  iron,  the  brass,  the  clay,  the  silver,  and 
the  gold;  the  great  Ood  hath  made  known  to  the 
king  what  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter:  and  the 
dream  is  certain  and  thf  '  Uerpretation  thereof  sure, 
— Daniel  2 :  44,  45. 

IN  no  respect  has  the  disintegration  of  Islam 
and  Moslem  ideals  been  so  evident  as  in 
the  world  of  politics.  The  Caliphate  has 
been  one  of  the  foundations  of  the  Moslem 
state  from  the  days  of  Abu  Bekr;  it  will  per- 
chance disappear  in  the  suicide  of  Turkey. 
Persia  has  been  ** strangled''  by  Russia  and 
England.  Egypt  has  been  made  a  protectorate ; 
Tripoli  seized  by  Italy  as  the  last  piece  of  goods 
on  the  bargain  counter  of  Africa;  Morocco  al- 
ready belongs  to  France ;  only  Afghanistan  and 
part  of  Arabia  retain  nominal  independence  and 
even  these  wild,  lawless  lands  are  already  ear- 
marked by  Great  Britain. 
Were  Suleiman  the  Magnificent  to  come  back 

107 


108    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

and  see  what  was  once  his  great  empire  divided 
for  ever  among  the  infidel  rulers,  what  would 
he  say  in  regard  to  the  downfall  of  Islam?  Can 
we  imagine  him  once  the  Sovereign  of  all  the 
near  East  and  all  North  Africa,  standing  next 
to  the  Turkish  commander  in  that  Syrian  town 
where  on  Friday,  November  20,  1914,  the  omen 
occurred  which,  in  the  judgment  of  the  by- 
standers, marked  the  doom  of  the  Caliphate  and 
of  Turkey! 

It  was  a  stormy  day,  crowds  filling  an  open 
space  in  front  of  the  Seraya  or  Government 
House,  strings  of  camels,  the  German  and 
Austrian  Consuls  and  their  Kavasses,  the  Turk- 
ish commander  of  the  city,  over  the  Seraya  the 
Turkish  flag  wet  and  limp  on  a  massive  flag- 
staff. While  the  call  was  being  made,  ^  ^  To  the 
Jihad,  the  Holy  War.  Let  us  wipe  out  the 
infidel  English,  French,  and  Eussians.  Let  us 
break  their  power !^'  something  did  break — 
*  *  The  flagstaff  over  the  Seraya  snapped  in  two, 
and  the  great  limp  ensign  came  hurtling  down 
into  the  very  midst  of  the  horrified  crowd.'' 
It  is  further  observed  that  the  following  day, 
the  21st,  the  British  forces  occupied  Busrah 
and  the  Union  Jack  was  hoisted  on  the  23rd. 
Since  then  a  new  era  has  opened  for  all  Meso- 
potamia. The  British  forces  have  had  victories 
at  Amara  and  Ctesiphon  and  will  soon  occupy 
Bagdad.    The  Battle  of  Busrah,  last  Novem- 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  109 

ber,  decided  the  destinies  of  Mesopotamia.  A 
few  weeks  ago  the  cable  brought  news  of  a  sec- 
ond battle  of  Nasariyahy  in  which  the  Turkish 
forces  were  driven  back  toward  Bagdad;  and 
unless  all  signs  fail,  the  expedition,  consisting 
of  Indian  troops  under  British  officers,  will 
shortly  reach  Bagdad,  and  after  that  city  falls 
into  the  hands  of  the  British  the  whole  Mesopo- 
tamian  Valley  will  be  freed  from  the  dominion 
of  the  Turks. 

The  Viceroy  of  India,  Lord  Hardinge,  has 
recently  paid  a  visit  to  Kuweit,  decorated  the 
ruling  chief,  and  secured  the  good-will  of  the 
Arab  tribes.  He  has  also  visited  Busrah.  In 
both  places  the  American  missionaries  received 
grateful  acknowledgment  for  their  ministry  to 
the  wounded  during  the  war,  and  he  made  them 
a  donation  in  recognition  of  their  services. 

The  streets  of  Busrah  were  cleaned,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  memory  of  man,  as  effectively 
and  as  promptly  as  were  the  streets  of  Vera 
Cruz  during  the  recent  American  occupation. 

The  economic  future  of  the  Euphrates  Valley  'I 
can  be  estimated  by  the  fact  that  here  flourished 
in  the  days  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  a  popula- 
tion which  has  been  estimated  by  Eawlinson  at 
40,000,000.  The  population  of  the  region 
is  now  a  little  less  than  2,000,000  under  mod- 
ern Turkish  misrule.  The  loss  can  be  attri- 
buted chiefly  to  tribal  warfare,  to  the  disap- 


110    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

pearance  of  the  vast  irrigation  works  of  an- 
tiquity, and  the  lack  of  all  enterprise  on  the 
part  of  the  Government. 

Those  familiar  with  the  development  of 
Egypt  under  British  rule  believe  that  Mesopo- 
tamia may,  under  some  future  Lord  Cromer,  be 
equal  to  at  least  one,  if  not  two,  Egypts  in 
fertility,  commerce,  and  the  economic  and  po- 
litical happiness  of  the  people.  When  Sir 
William  Willcocks,  the  great  engineer  of  the 
Assuan  Dam  on  the  Nile,  or  his  successor  com- 
pletes work  on  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris, 
the  same  great  agricultural  transformation 
which  has  come  to  Egypt  may  be  looked  for- 
ward to  in  Mesopotamia.  One  of  the  great  oil 
deposits  of  the  world  is  found  in  this  valley, 
at  Mohammerah,  and  is  already  being  ex- 
ploited for  the  supply  of  the  British  navy  by 
the  Anglo-Persian  Oil  Company  under  British 
direction. 

The  shadow  of  these  coming  events,  however, 
had  already  rested  on  the  Turkish  Empire  long 
before  the  war  broke  out  with  all  its  horrors. 
In  April,  1914,  three  months  before  the  Euro- 
pean war  Peyam,  a  Constantinople  paper,  con- 
tained an  indignant,  although  helpless,  protest 
regarding  the  political  situation: 

*'A  draft  of  the  Franco-German  agreement  on  the 
Turkish  railway  and  financial  questions  was  initi- 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  111 

aled  at  the  Foreign  Office  here  [Berlin]  at  noon  to- 
day by  representatives  of  both  parties.  It  is  in  the 
form  of  arrangement  between  the  Deutsche  Bank, 
which  simultaneously  represents  the  Anatolian  and 
Bagdad  Railway  Companies,  and  the  Imperial  Ot- 
toman Bank,  which  is  acting  at  the  same  time  for 
the  Syrian  Eailway  Company  and  the  railway  com- 
pany to  be  formed  for  the  Black  Sea  basin.  The 
German  and  French  Governments,  after  examining 
the  agreement,  intend  to  take  official  cognizance  of 
its  contents  by  means  of  an  exchange  of  notes.  The 
coming  into  force  of  the  arrangements  is  dependent 
upon  an  understanding  being  arrived  at  by  the  par- 
ties concerned  with  Turkey  upon  the  questions  at 
issue.  We  are  perfectly  aware  that  Anatolia  belongs 
by  right  and  in  fact  to  us.  Anatolia  and  Arabia  are 
integral  parts  of  the  Empire.  But  the  Powers  have 
decided  to  appropriate  to  themselves  certain  privi- 
leges in  the  line  of  economic  enterprises,  such  as 
railroads,  harbours,  and  carriage  roads.  And  after 
seizing  these  concessions  from  us  in  our  weakness, 
they  cannot  agree  among  themselves.  They  nego- 
tiate indefinitely.  At  last  France  and  Germany 
seem  to  have  agreed  on  their  respective  pretensions. 
The  Germans  have  obtained  the  construction  of  the 
Bagdad  railroad,  wherefore  the  French  have  de- 
manded compensating  concessions,  as  the  English  did 
a  while  ago.  England,  in  order  to  give  her  consent 
in  the  matter  of  the  Bagdad  railroad,  demanded  to 
be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  Bagdad-Busrah  sec- 
tion; and  it  was  only  after  having  obtained  from 
Germany  satisfaction  on  this  point,  and  from  us  on 


112    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

certain  others,  that  she  disarmed.  France  found  her- 
self in  a  similar  situation.  Not  that  we  had  bar- 
gained with  her  over  these  concessions  when  we  gave 
her  the  railway  system  of  the  Black  Sea  slope.  What 
she  wished  was  a  connection  between  this  system  and 
the  Bagdad  line.  Germany,  who  first  made  difficul- 
ties, has  ended  by  granting  the  wishes  of  France. 
All  this  is  quite  wounding  to  our  national  senti- 
ments. Whose  is  this  property  that  they  are  thus 
dividing  up,  after  all?  Surely  it  is  ours.  Then  why 
do  they  dispose  of  it  without  even  consulting  us? 
Alas!  we  have  voluntarily  deprived  ourselves  of  our 
own  rights.  We  could  not  carry  out  these  public 
works  ourselves,  so  we  have  abandoned  them  to 
others.  We  cannot  complain;  but  it  is  sad,  none  th© 
less.'^ 

A  similar  note  of  despair  was  heard  in  the 
press  of  Persia  and  Egypt  for  many  years  past. 
The  partition  of  Africa  among  the  European 
powers,  colonial  expansion  through  trade  and 
diplomacy  in  the  Near  East  and  the  Far  East, 
and  most  of  all  Turkish  misrule  throughout  all 
her  provinces,  are  among  the  reasons  why  Islam 
lost  its  political  power. 

The  distribution  of  Moslem  population  ac- 
cording to  political  rule  is  graphically  shown  in 
the  accompanying  chart.  It  is  based  on  con- 
ditions before  the  war  and  on  a  carefully  pre- 
pared census  or  estimate  of  Moslem  populations 
made  for  the  quarterly.  The  Moslem  World. 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  113 

(VoL  IV,  pp.  145-156).  The  total  population  of 
the  Moslem  world,  according  to  this  new  esti- 
mate, is  201,296,696.  Of  these  90,478,111  are 
under  British  rule  or  protection,  and  76,596,219 
under  other  Western  or  Christian  Governments 
in  possession  of  colonies,  a  total  of  167,074,330, 
equal  to  eighty-three  per  cent,  and  distributed 
as  indicated: 

DISTRIBUTION  BY  GOVERNMENTS. 

Under  British  Rule  or  Occupation. 

In  Africa   22,606,344 

In  Asia   67,871,767 

Total    90,478,111 

Other  Western  or  Christian  Oovernments. 

In  Africa: — 

Belgium     60,000 

France   15,085,000 

Germany    1,480,000 

Italy    1,356,000 

Portugal    330,000 

Spain    130,000 

Abyssinia  and  Liberia ,  780,000 

19,230,000 

In  Asia: — 

United  States   (Moros)    277,547 

Dutch     35,308,996 

French   232,000 

Russia  (Asia  and  Europe)    20,000,000 

55,818,543 

Europe   (outside  Turkey)    1,373,676 

America    174,000 

1,547,676 

76,596,219 


114    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 


DISTRIBUTION   OF  NATIONAL  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR 

MOSLEM  POPULATIONS  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 

Populations  in  round  millions. 


'[       \    Great  Britain  ...  95 

Holland  35 

Russia   20 

France 16 

^^§    Germany    1*4 

^^    Italy     11/2 

Under  Christian  rule. .  .169 


Turkey    13 

China 8 

Afghanistan    5 

'vi^ig    Persia    5 

Under  non-Christian  rule.  31 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  115 

This  leaves  only  34,222,366  Mohammedans 
not  under  Western  governments.  Of  this  num- 
ber only  13,278,800  are  under  the  Caliphate  in 
the  Ottoman  Empire,  or  only  six  and  a  half 
per  cent  of  the  whole  Moslem  world  population. 
It  is  evident  from  this  table  how  Great 
Britain,  Holland,  Russia,  and  France  have  to- 
gether a  national  responsibility  for  the  eco- 
nomic, social,  and  educational  development  and 
welfare  of  more  than  166,000,000  Mohamme- 
dans, not  to  speak  of  the  national  responsibility 
of  Italy  and  Germany  for  the  same  problem. 
This  responsibility  is  not  only  real,  but  it  is 
acknowledged  by  all  statesmen  who  have  given 
serious  thought  to  the  matter.  The  Earl  of  Cro- 
mer'shook  on**  Modern  Egypt"  and  the  recent 
volume  by  Captain  C.  W.  J.  Orr  on  the  **  Making 
of  Northern  Nigeria ' '  are  examples  of  how  this 
question  of  the  Moslem  faith,  its  character,  and 
its  tendencies,  cannot  be  ignored  in  any  colonial 
policy.  Whether  Islam  is  a  peril  to  real  civili- 
zation or  whether  it  can  be  used  as  a  stepping 
stone  toward  such  civilization  in  Africa  is  not 
an  open  question  among  missionaries,  although 
it  still  seems  to  be  on  the  part  of  some  govern- 
ment officials.    Captain  Orr  writes: 

**Even  if  it  be  true  that  Islam  lays  a  dead  hand 
on  a  people  who  have  reached  a  certain  standard 
of  civilization,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  its  quickening 


116    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

influence  on  African  races  in  a  backward  state  of 
evolution.  Amongst  the  pagan  tribes  of  northern 
Nigeria  it  is  making  its  converts  every  day,  sweeping 
away  drunkenness,  cannibalism,  and  fetishism; 
mosques  and  markets  spring  into  existence,  and  the 
pagan  loses  his  exclusiveness,  and  learns  to  mingle 
with  his  fellow-men.  To  the  negro  Islam  is  not 
sterile  or  lifeless.  The  dead  hand  is  not  for  him. 
Not  that  the  spread  of  Islam  amongst  pagan  tribes 
is  wholly  beneficial.  Its  appeal  to  his  sensual  na- 
ture is  not  without  its  effect.  The  very  civilization 
which  Islam  brings,  teaches  its  vices  as  well  as  its 
virtues.  But  when  the  balance  is  struck  between  Is- 
lamism  and  Paganism  there  can  be  but  little  doubt 
which  of  the  scales  weighs  the  heavier.'' 

On  the  other  hand  at  the  German  Colonial 
Congress  in  1910,  held  at  Hamburg,  the  Moslem 
peril  in  East  Africa  was  fearlessly  discussed, 
and  a  strong  resolution  adopted  by  the  whole 
congress,  representing  Protestant,  Eoman 
Catholic,  and  socialistic  leaders.  The  text  of 
the  resolution  is  a  missionary  challenge : 

''Since  the  progress  of  Islam  in  our  colonies  is 
accompanied  by  grave  perils,  this  Colonial  Congress 
recommends  a  thorough  study  of  Moslem  propa- 
gandism.  The  Congress  is  thoroughly  convinced  that 
everything  which  favours  the  progress  of  Islam  and 
hinders  the  progress  of  Christianity  should  be 
avoided,  and  especially  commends  the  cultural  efforts 
of  missionary  education  and  hospital  work,  to  the 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  117 

support  of  the  Colonial  Government.  We  also  recog- 
nize in  the  Moslem  peril  an  urgent  challenge  to  Ger- 
man Christianity  to  occupy  the  regions  threatened 
by  Islam  with  missionary  effort."     (Report,  p.  62.) 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  result  followed  a 
presentation  of  the  subject  by  Inspector  Axen- 
field,  representing  Protestant  missions;  Dr. 
Hansen,  representing  the  Roman  Catholics,  and 
Professor  Becker,  one  of  the  keenest  students 
of  Islam  from  a  secular  standpoint.  It  is  yet 
more  remarkable  that  in  five  years  public  opin- 
ion should  have  so  utterly  changed  in  Germany 
through  the  war;  that  now  she  is  the  ally  of 
Turkey  and  the  instigator  of  pan-Islamic  move- 
ments. We  will  refer  later  to  the  reasons  for 
this  reversal  of  opinion. 

Of  all  nations  Great  Britain's  national  re- 
sponsibility for  the  uplift  of  the  Moslem 
world  stands  supreme  and  colossal.  Measured 
by  statistics  it  includes  some  70,000,000  in  Asia 
and  over  20,000,000  in  Africa.  Measured  by  the 
strategic  position  on  the  map  of  the  world  as 
regards  the  highways  of  commerce  and  the 
great  centres  of  population,  trade,  and  intel- 
lectual culture,  there  is  no  nation  that  can  com- 
pare with  Great  Britain.  She  holds  the  gates 
of  the  world  in  her  possession,  and  through  her 
naval  supremacy  and  enormous  trade,  Great 
Britain  comes  into  contact  with  the  Moslem 


118    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

populations  of  all  the  great  ports  of  the  East 
and  the  Mediterranean.  Cairo,  Bombay,  Delhi, 
Calcutta,  Singapore,  Aden,  and  Alexandria  are 
examples  of  this  strategic  importance.  In  the 
same  way  England's  national  responsibility  is 
measured  in  terms  of  the  stalwart  and  dominat- 
ing races  which  are  counted  as  Moslem,  such 
as  the  Arabian,  Egyptian,  Pathan,  Hausa,  and 
Bengali  races,  under  her  flag. 

There  is  also  a  sense  in  which  Great  Britain  *s 
national  responsibility  is  dynamic.  To  whom 
much  is  given  from  them  shall  justly  much  be 
required.  Eesponsibility  in  the  last  analysis 
means  ability  to  respond.  Great  Britain  not 
only  has  political  leadership  but  a  moral  and 
spiritual  leadership  among  the  nations  of 
Europe  which  no  one  can  question.  No  believer 
in  God  doubts  that  there  is  a  definite  purpose  in 
all  this ;  and  while  Great  Britain  has  done  much 
for  the  economic  development  of  her  colonies 
and  possessions,  and  has  also  introduced  educa- 
tional reforms  and  institutions,  as  well  as  the 
*^Pax  Britannica''  which  has  made  possible  the 
proclamation  of  the  Gospel  in  some  lands  such 
as  Egypt,  there  remains  much  to  be  desired. 
Great  Britain's  neutrality  has  often  been  pain- 
ful. Speaking  of  conditions  before  the  war  in 
British  East  Africa  and  in  Nigeria,  the  Eev.  W. 
St.  Clair  Tisdall,  himself  a  British  subject, 
states:    **The    Government    of    British    East 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  119 

Africa  seems  to  aim  at  conserving  Islam  wher- 
ever it  finds  that  faith.  While  not  actively  and 
officially  supporting  Islam,  the  Government — 
as  represented  by  not  a  few  of  its  officers — ^likes 
to  see  it  supplanting  Paganism.  At  present  the 
Government  *  appears  to  put  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  all  concerned  in  seeking  to  evangelize 
the  people  of  British  East  Africa.'  So  much 
has  this  been  the  case  that  not  long  since  the 
various  missions  sent  a  special  Deputation  to 
urge  that  the  Government  should  at  least  be 
neutral,  and  no  longer  use  its  influence  to  keep 
the  chiefs  and  others  from  Christian  teaching, 
nor  show  a  tendency  to  encourage  Islam  as  more 
suitable  for  the  people  than  Christianity.  .  .  . 
In  Northern  Nigeria  the  Government  openly 
takes  the  side  of  Islam  and  as  openly  opposes 
Christian  mission-work.  Moslem  teachers  are 
permitted  to  propagate  their  religion  quite 
freely  wherever  they  please,  while  Christian 
missionaries  are  in  some  cases  forbidden  access 
even  to  Pagan  tribes. ' '  ^  Surely  Christian  mis- 
sions and  Christendom  have  a  right  to  demand 
that  nominally  Christian  governments,  although 
they  may  not  help  forward  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  should  at  the  very  least  not  be  permitted 
to  oppose  it  or  thwart  the  efforts  of  mission- 
aries.   For  we  must  remember  that  **occupa- 

^  For  further  proofs  see  his  article,  "  Islam  and  National  Re- 
sponsibility," Moslem  World,  Vol.  V,  pp.  22-30. 


120    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

tion''  really  means  inevitably  the  disintegration 
of  many  Moslem  religious  institutions  and  the 
uprooting  of  old  ideals  and  standards. 

The  fact  that  Islam  is,  as  Lord  Curzon  puts 
it,  not  merely  a  ** state  church''  but  a  ^* church- 
state''  emphasizes  the  terrific  effect  of  the  im- 
pact of  western  domination  on  civil  and  criminal 
law.  Moslem  law  is  closely  and  fundamentally 
based  upon  the  Koran  and  tradition,  and  the 
whole  conception  of  the  Moslem  state  from  the 
days  of  Abu  Bekr  and  Omar  until  the  present 
excludes  the  idea  of  government  by  aliens,  that 
is  by  unbelievers  in  the  mission  of  Mohammed. 
According  to  a  leading  Moslem  jurist  in  India 
the  Koran  and  tradition  both  contain  the  prin- 
ciples of  Moslem  jurisprudence,  and  they  dif- 
fer from  each  other  in  the  same  way  as  the  un- 
written law  of  the  English  lawyers  differs  from 
what  they  call  written  law.^  Whole  sections  of 
Moslem  criminal  law,  such  as  deal,  for  example, 
with  retaliation,  the  punishment  for  theft,  slav- 
ery, apostasy,  etc.,  have  been  abrogated  by 
colonial  governments,  British  common  law  or 
the  Code  Napoleon  having  taken  the  place  of 
mediaeval  legislation  no  longer  possible  under 
modern  civilization. 

** Strictures,"  says  the  author  referred  to, 
**are  sometimes  passed  on  the  inapplicability 

*  Cf .  "  Principles  of  Muhammadan  Law,"  by  Faiz  Badruddin 
Tyabji,  M.A. 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  121 

of  portions  of  Muliammadan  Law  to  modern 
circumstances  in  British  India.  The  inapplica- 
bility must  be  ascribed,  in  part  at  least,  to  the 
fact  that  the  substantive  law  of  Islam,  so  far  as 
it  is  applied  in  India,  has  been  divorced  from 
the  adjective  law.  The  two  form  integral  por- 
tions of  one  system,  and  each .  suffers  by  a 
disregard  of  the  other;  hence,  though  the 
adjective  Muhammadan  Law  is  not  directly 
applicable  in  British  India,  as  such  a  reference 
to  it  may  occasionally  explain  the  real  scope 
and  effect  of  the  substantive  law,  and  may  even 
be  a  guide  as  to  how  it  should  operate  in  par- 
ticular cases.  .  .  .  The  Muhammadan  law  of 
succession  and  inheritance  is  expressly  directed 
by  the  Legislature  to  be  applied  to  Mussulmans 
all  over  British  India,  provided  that  so  much  of 
the  Muhammadan  law  and  usage  as  prohibits 
succession  by  apostates  from  Islam  will  not  be 
enforced  in  British  India. ' '  And  again  he  says, 
*^The  Muhammadan  law  of  pre-emption  is  en- 
forced in  British  India,  except  in  the  Madras 
Presidency,  where  it  has  been  held  to  be  con- 
trary to  justice,  equity,  and  good  conscience ! ' ' 
The  whole  conception,  so  fundamental  in  Mos- 
lem law,  of  the  Dar  ul  Islam  and  the  Dar  ul 
Harb  or  the  torture  of  Moslems  and  that  of 
infidels,  is  contrary  to  the  principles  of  de- 
mocracy. As  regards  the  Moslem  law  of  mar- 
riage and  inheritance,  such  a  high  authority  as 


122    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Professor  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  ^  holds  that  the 
codification  of  these  laws  is  undesirable,  as 
many  of  them  are  mediaeval  and  in  direct  op- 
position to  modern  civilization  and  culture. 
The  government  should,  therefore,  allow  such 
laws  to  fall  into  disuse. 

The  character  of  the  mediaeval  legislation 
supplanted  by  western  codes  of  law,  but  which 
is  still  supposed  to  be  in  force  in  some  Moslem 
lands,  may  be  judged  from  paragraphs  taken 
verbatim  from  a  standard  work.^  ^*No  re- 
sponsibility is  incurred  by  mortally  wounding 
an  infidel  not  subject  to  a  Moslem  prince,  or 
an  apostate,  even  though  he  should  repent  of 
his  errors  before  death.  This  principle  extends 
also  to  a  master  who  mortally  wounds  his  slave, 
and  then  frees  him  before  his  death.  Others, 
however,  do  not  admit  impunity  in  these  cir- 
cumstances, but  maintain  that  one  is  then  liable 
for  the  price  of  blood.  Where,  on  the  other 
hand,  one  shoots  at  such  infidel,  or  an  apostate 
or  one's  own  slave,  after  which  the  infidel  or 
the  apostate  is  converted,  or  one  frees  the  slave, 
before  the  projectile  hits  him,  our  school  exacts 
the  price  of  blood  on  the  higher  scale,  for  killing 
a  free  Moslem''  (p.  402).^ 

*  See  his  book,  "  Nederland  en  de  Islam,"  published  at  Ley- 
den,  1911. 

'"Minhaj  et  Talibin:  A  Manual  of  Mohammedan  Law."  By 
Nawawi.  Translated  into  English  from  the  French  by  F.  C. 
Howard.    Published  in  London,  1914. 

» Large  sections  of  the  work  are  simply  untranslatable  be- 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  123 

We  may  rejoice  that  much  of  this  mediaeval 
code  has  been  abrogated  by  the  progress  of 
civilization,  but  the  fact  that  it  is  still  consid- 
ered legal  and  of  highest  authority  is  pitiful. 
What  must  have  been  the  condition  of  intoler- 
ance when  such  a  paragraph  as  the  following 
could  find  a  place  in  Moslem  law!  And  how 
greatly  the  relations  between  Christians  and 
Moslems  have  changed  for  the  better;  although 
we  still  have  the  spirit  of  the  law  in  the  Arme- 
nian persecutions.  **An  infidel  who  has  to  pay 
his  poll-tax  should  be  treated  by  the  tax- 
collector  with  disdain;  the  collector  remaining 
seated  and  the  infidel  standing  before  him,  the 
head  bent  and  the  body  bowed.  The  infidel 
should  personally  place  the  money  in  the 
balance,  while  the  collector  holds  him  by  the 
beard  and  strikes  him  upon  both  cheeks." 

When  the  attempt  is  made  to  abrogate  or  re- 
form the  Moslem  code  the  question  naturally 
arises  whether  these  changes  and  reforms  are 

cause  they  deal  with  marriage  and  divorce  in  truly  Moslem 
fashion.  But  the  statement  is  so  often  made  that  missionaries 
exaggerate  when  they  speak  of  the  social  evils  of  Islam  that 
two  paragraphs  must  be  quoted.  "  A  woman,  or  a  hermaph- 
rodite, is  worth  half  a  man,  whether  in  a  case  of  homicide  or 
in  a  case  of  wounding.  A  Jew  or  a  Christian  is  worth  the 
third  of  a  Moslem.  A  fire-worshipper,  or  even  an  idolater 
who  has  a  safe  conduct,  is  worth  a  fifth"  (p.  414).  "When 
a  man  has  two  wives,  one  an  adult  and  the  other  still  a  minor, 
and  the  former  gives  her  breast  to  the  latter,  not  only  is  his 
marriage  with  the  child-wife  dissolved,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
but  even  the  nurse  ceases  to  be  his  wife,  and  commerce  with 
her  is  forever  forbidden  him"   (p.  380). 


124<    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

possible  without  being  anti-religious.  Will  re- 
formed Islam,  even  along  economic  and  ethical 
lines,  be  Islam  any  longer?  Will  it  be  possible 
to  do  away  with  religious  endowments  (Wakf) 
and  by  so  doing  disinherit  as  well  as  disestab- 
lish the  Moslem  Church?  Yet  this  is  the  very 
question  which  is  at  the  basis  of  real  economic 
progress  in  many  parts  of  the  Moslem  world. 
The  whole  question  of  interest  and  banking  is 
interminably  mixed-up  with  Moslem  religious 
teaching  and  many  still  hold  that  both  are 
more  reprehensible  than  adultery  or  murder; 
basing  their  opinion  on  a  tradition  which  is  un- 
doubtedly genuine.  The  law  regarding  apostasy 
was  abrogated  at  least  in  the  letter  even  in 
Turkey  long  before  the  Eevolution  of  1908. 
When  the  Persians  and  the  Turks  write  upon 
their  banners  such  democratic  watch-words  as 
** Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity,*'  they  in- 
dicted the  teachings  of  their  Prophet  and  the 
history  of  Islam  for  twelve  centuries.  For  under 
the  old  and  orthodox  Islam  there  is  neither  lib- 
erty, equality,  nor  fraternity  for  non-Moslems. 
And  of  these  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands 
in  both  Turkey  and  Persia.  The  recent  up- 
risings and  massacres  have  again  proved  that 
whatever  may  have  been  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  outrages  the  ultimate  cause  rests  in  Islam 
itself. 
The  Caliphate  as  an  institution  is  also  funda- 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  U5 

mental  in  the  conception  of  Islam,  and  the 
gradual  loss  of  political  power  is  perhaps  more 
felt  because  of  this  institution  than  for  any 
other  reason.  Moslems  of  the  new  school  who 
are  in  sympathy  with  modern  civilization  and 
are  loyal  to  the  British  Government  still  believe 
in  the  Caliphate  and  in  the  necessity  of  its  per- 
petuation. 

Syed  Amir  Ali  writing  in  the  Contemporary 
Review  for  June,  1915,  on  the  subject  says : 

**For  the  existence  of  Islam,  therefore,  there  must 
always  be  a  Caliph,  an  actual  and  direct  representa- 
tive of  the  Master.  The  Imamate  is  the  spiritual 
leadership ;  but  the  two  dignities  are  inseparable ;  the 
Vice-gerent  of  the  Prophet  is  the  only  person  entitled 
to  lead  the  prayers  when  he  can  himself  be  present. 
No  one  else  can  assume  his  functions  unless  directly 
or  indirectly  'deputed'  by  him.  For  full  five  cen- 
turies Bagdad  was  the  centre  of  all  intellectual  activ- 
ity in  Islam;  and  here  the  rules  and  regulations  ap- 
pertaining to  the  Caliphate,  as  other  matters,  secular 
and  religious,  were  systematized.  And  the  concep- 
tion that  the  Caliph-Imam  was  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed Vice-gerent  of  the  Prophet  became,  as  it  is 
today,  part  of  the  religious  life  of  the  people.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  according  to  the  Sunni  doc- 
trines the  Caliph  is  not  merely  a  secular  sovereign; 
he  is  the  spiritual  head  of  a  Church  and  a  common- 
wealth, the  actual  representative  of  Divine  Govern- 
ment. Speaking  as  one  outside  the  Sunni  sect,  but 
to  some  extent  cognizant  of  its  recognized  doctrines 


126    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

and  living  sentiments,  I  believe  it  would  be  far  more 
conductive  to  the  well-being  of  the  great  communities 
in  whose  pacific  development  England,  France,  and 
Russia  are  interested,  to  preserve  intact  the  prestige 
and  influence  of  this  sacred  institution  than  to  allow 
it  to  be  thrown  into  the  melting-pot  of  intestinal  dis- 
cord and  schismatic  strife.'' 

And  in  this  opinion  regarding  the  importance 
of  the  Caliphate  and  the  future  of  Islam  such  a 
high  authority  as  the  Earl  of  Cromer  seems  to 
agree.   In  a  recent  address  he  said : 

''I  naturally  speak  under  correction  on  a  subject 
of  this  delicate  and  difficult  nature,  but,  if  I  under- 
stand rightly,  Moslem  opinion  generally,  as  regards 
the  position  of  the  Khalif,  bears  some  analogy  to 
that  entertained  at  one  time  by  strong  Catholics — 
and  perhaps  to  some  extent  still  fostered — as  regards 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope.  In  other  words,  it 
is  held  that  the  due  exercise  of  the  spiritual  power 
cannot  be  ensured  unless  the  Khalif  is  placed  in  a 
position  of  assured  political  independence.  Hence, 
although  possibly  the  substitution  of  some  Khalif 
other  than  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  might  be  effected 
without  any  very  great  shock  to  Moslem  opinion  and 
sentiment,  the  recognition  of  a  Khalif  who  could  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  be  brought  under  non-Moslem 
influences  would  be  strongly  resented. ' ' 

At  the  present  it  would  be  futile  to  utter  any 
rash  prophecy  concerning  the  future  of  the 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  127 

Caliphate.  So  far  we  have  written  of  condi- 
tions before  the  war,  and  yet  in  regard  to  the 
results  of  the  present  conflagration  one  thing 
seems  certain,  that  Turkey  will  not  regain  her 
independence  as  a  sovereign  state.  The  great 
war  has  already  witnessed  many  stupendous 
changes  and,  whoever  may  win,  the  maps  of  the 
world  will  need  revision  when  peace  comes. 
The  greatest  surprise  of  the  war,  however,  was 
the  failure  of  Germany's  attempt  to  provoke 
a  general  jihad.  This  was  doubtless  her  inten- 
tion. As  early  as  1906  the  German  traveller. 
Dr.  Karl  Peters,  spoke  of  it  as  possible! 
**  There  is  one  factor  which  might  fall  on  our 
side  of  the  balance  and  in  the  case  of  a  world- 
war  might  be  made  useful  to  us :  that  factor  is, 
Islam.  As  Pan-Islamism  it  could  be  played 
against  Great  Britain  as  well  as  against  the 
French  Republic ;  and  if  German  policy  is  bold 
enough,  it  can  fashion  the  dynamite  to  blow 
into  the  air  the  rule  of  the  Western  Powers 
from  Cape  Nun  (Morocco)  to  Calcutta."  In 
1914,  The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  published  a  mes- 
sage from  Constantinople  giving  an  account  of 
the  efforts  being  made  in  Northern  Africa  to 
rouse  the  local  Moslems  to  a  Holy  War  against 
the  French  in  anticipation  of  the  Sheik-ul- 
Islam's  action,  and  states  that  ^'Moslems  were, 
in  an  Arabic  proclamation,  warned  not  to  fight 
on  the  side  of  France,  for  France  is  the  enemy 


128    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

of  God,  of  the  Prophet,  and  of  all  Moslems. 
The  proclamation  points  out  the  oppression  of 
the  faithful,  and  appeals  to  all  Moslems  to  wage 
war  upon  their  oppressors  and  rescue  their  re- 
ligion and  their  honour. ' ' 

But  this  Holy  War,  '^made  in  Germany"  was 
a  failure.  The  Moslems  in  India  remained 
loyal  to  the  British  Government.  In  Egypt 
there  was  no  serious  disturbance.  The  Moham- 
medans of  northern  Africa  were  not  aroused  to 
the  jihad,  nor  were  those  of  Russia.  On  the 
contrary  from  all  of  these  countries  troops  went 
to  fight  in  the  trenches  with  the  allies  against 
Turkey  and  Germany.  The  reasons  for  the 
failure  of  Germany's  attempt  to  stir  up  a  pan- 
Islamic  movement  have  been  cleverly  and  fear- 
lessly pointed  out  by  Professor  C.  Snouck  Hur- 
gronje  in  his  book.^  This  little  volume  throws 
so  much  light  on  the  real  situation  that  we  give 
a  summary  of  its  arguments.  **It  seems  inex- 
plicable to  me,"  says  the  author,  **that  my 
esteemed  colleague,  Professor  C.  H.  Becker,  at 
Bonn,  who  until  recently  honourably  repre- 
sented the  science  of  Islam  in  the  Colonial  In- 
stitute at  Hamburg,  should  also  have  been  swept 
away  by  the  incredible  jihad-craze^  which  at 
present  seems  to  possess  German  statesmen." 
Until  recently  Becker  (^* through  ignorance"  he 

*"The  Holy  War:   'Made  in  Germany.'"     New  York  and 
London,  1915. 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  129 

now  confesses)  ''considered  the  emphasizing  of 
the  Caliph-title  by  Germany  a  mistake,"  but 
since  then  he  has  joyfully  discovered  that  the 
Kaiser's  visit  to  Damascus  in  1898  and  the  sub- 
sequent policy  of  Germany  in  Turkey  give  proof 
that  her  statesmen  have  from  the  first* ''taken 
Islam  into  account  as  an  international  factor." 
The  Mohammedans  of  the  educated  classes  are 
"almost  ashamed  of  the  presumption  expressed 
by  the  teaching  of  the  jihad,  and  try  hard  to 
prove  that  the  law  itself  restricts  its  applica- 
tion to  circumstances  which  do  not  occur  any 
more."  The  Caliphate  itself  had  long  become 
an  empty  honour,  and  was  not  even  acknowl- 
edged in  countries  outside  of  the  sphere  of 
Turkish  influence.  In  Morocco  it  was  ignored 
and  in  Persia  it  was  not  recognized.  Nor  could 
the  Young  Turks  any  more  than  Abd-ul-Hamid 
put  real  life  into  the  Caliphate.  "That  gang  of 
shallow  intriguers  was  little  qualified  to  lead 
a  serious  international  movement."  Pan- 
Islamism's  programme,  he  says,  is  "worn  out 
and  flagrantly  impracticable."  After  showing 
the  wrong  conception  prevalent,  even  among 
statesmen,  regarding  the  idea  of  a  jihad  as  a 
special  Mohammedan  religious  war,  the  author 
rightly  states  that  for  no  Moslem  does  the  ques- 
tion have  any  meaning  "whether  the  Sultan  has 
decreed  a  holy  war."  For  the  true  Moslem 
there  is  no  war  except  against  infidels,  and  all 


130    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

wars  are,  therefore,  religious.  The  remainder 
of  the  book,  pp.  34-82,  introduces  Germany  and 
her  spokesmen,  especially  Hugo  Grothe,  Becker, 
and  Hartmann.  All  of  them  are  shown  to  be 
at  sea  regarding  the  facts,  and  at  pains  to  make 
the  worst  appear  the  better  reason  for  this 
Holy  War  against  the  Allies.  ^*What  may  not 
Turkey  exclaim  now/^  he  says  (quoting  Hart- 
mann's  word  a  few  years  ago,  * '  Turkey  can  only 
exclaim,  ^Heaven  protect  me  against  my 
friends'  '')>  ^^now,  that  her  best  friend  is  ex- 
citing her  to  religious  war,  and  presently  turns 
over  to  her  the  Mohammedan  prisoners  who 
fought  against  Germany  in  order  to  submit 
them  to  a  political-religious  conversion  cure?" 
The  result  of  Germany's  attempt  to  fire  the 
magazine  of  Moslem  fanaticism,  we  may  thank 
God,  was  not  as  expected.  And  we  agree  with 
Dr.  Hurgronje  that  **  within  a  not  very  long 
time  a  number  of  German  writings  will  testify 
that  also  in  Germany  indignation  has  been 
aroused  by  the  despicable  game  that  is  being 
played  with  the  Caliphate  and  the  holy  war. ' ' 

The  issue  of  this  *^Holy  War''  can  only  be  the 
suicide  of  Turkey,  as  was  pointed  out  by  the 
vice-president  of  the  Moslem  League  in  Bom- 
bay:^ *^  Turkey  is  today  a  mere  tool  used  to 
serve  Germany's  ends.    Were  those  ends  to  be 

*"The   Suicide   of   Turkey."     By   Cassamally   Jairazbhoy. 
Bombay,  1914. 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  131 

attained,  tomorrow  would  witness  the  scornful 
crushing  of  Turkey  by  the  Power  whose  ruler 
Kaiser  William — boasts  that  to  him  an  oath 
is  not  sacred,  and  a  treaty  no  more  than  a  scrap 
of  paper  to  be  thrown  away  or  torn  up  as  may 
be  convenient. ' '  And  he  continues :  *  *  It  will  be 
seen  from  the  foregoing  how  Germany  reckoned 
on  stirring  up  a  great  pan-Islamic  movement 
that  would  prove  a  source  of  embarrassment  to 
the  British  and  the  French.  The  result  of  all 
their  intrigues  has  been  a  failure  as  complete  as 
it  is  inglorious.  In  India  above  all  Germany 
hoped  to  rouse  Mohammedans  against  the  Gov- 
ernment. But  no  people  have  been  more  sin- 
cere than  the  Mohammedans  of  this  country  in 
their  devotion  to  the  British  Eaj  and  in  their 
offers  of  service  against  the  enemy." 

"Whatever  may  be  the  final  results  of  the  great 
European  war  in  Europe  itself,  or  in  regard  to 
the  colonial  expansion  or  loss  of  the  European 
Powers  in  Africa  and  Asia,  one  thing  is  certain 
— pan-Islamism  in  its  political  aspirations  has 
suffered  a  death-blow.  The  dynamite  undoubt- 
edly existed.  Moslem  fanaticism  is  always  a 
dangerous  element  to  Christian  civilization  and 
the  religious  orders  of  Islam  are  ever  ready  to 
put  the  firebrands  of  discontent  under  the 
smouldering  thought  of  the  masses  who  believe 
that  fraternity  extends  only  to  true  believers, 
and  that  contempt,  hatred,  and  war,  are  due 


132    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

to  the  infidel.  In  spite  of  every  effort,  however, 
they  have  not  been  able  to  stir  up  a  solidarity 
of  feeling  in  the  Moslem  world,  or  to  break 
down  the  loyalty  of  Moslems  in  India,  Algeria, 
or  Egypt. 

Many  Moslems  of  the  educated  classes  are 
wise  enough  to  be  resigned  to  the  present  po- 
litical situation.  They  realize  that  the  time  is 
not  yet  come  for  national  independence.  The 
nationalists '  programme  in  Turkey,  Persia,  and 
Egypt  has  not  proved  a  success.  A  Moslem 
writer  in  India  expresses  himself  in  these 
words:  **God  is  not  like  a  foolish  father  who 
gives  a  knife  to  the  baby,  simply  because  it 
cries  for  it,  to  hurt  its  own  self.  We  must  take 
things  as  they  are.  As  long  as  we  are  not 
sufficiently  advanced  we  must  live  under  the 
protection  of  some  foreign  Power  and  the 
Power  under  which  we  live  is  the  best  in  the 
world  now." 

At  the  same  time  Moslems  are  not  blind  to  the 
significance  of  the  utter  disintegration  and  col- 
lapse of  Moslem  rule.  The  present  head  of  the 
Ahmadiyah  movement  writes  in  The  Review  of 
Religions  for  September,  1915: 

*' Today  the  Mussulmans  are  to  be  found  in  every 
corner  of  the  earth  and  Islam  claims  its  followers 
among  all  ranks  of  people.  And  though  much  of  the 
former  glory  and  power  have  been  lost,  there  are 
still  left  a  few  ruling  states  which  yet  profess  the 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  13S 

faith.  But  withal  it  is  apparent  that  the  hearts  of 
Mussulmans  at  large  are  fast  sinking  at  the  thought 
of  the  future  of  Islam.  There  are  thousands,  nay, 
millions  of  Muslims  who,  at  the  sight  of  the  power  of 
Europe  and  its  daily  rising  tide,  have  already  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  for  Islam  to  continue  in  its 
career  of  Saviour  of  Nations,  nay  even  to  maintain 
its  position,  is  now  a  thing  outside  the  range  of  possi- 
bility. Nay,  many  a  foolish  one  has  gone  so  far  as 
to  predict  that  within  a  hundred  years  Islam  will  be 
obliterated  from  the  face  ctf  the  earth.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  way  in  which  at  the  present  time  Islam 
is  being  assailed  from  all  sides,  and  every  religion  is 
treating  Islam  as  the  one  common  object  of  its  on- 
slaught, is  sufficient  to  shake  the  heart  of  every 
shallow  observer.  And  this  is  why  the  educated  sec- 
tion of  the  community,  who  are  acquainted  with  the 
condition  of  the  times,  are  in  a  state  of  utter  despair, 
and  consider  it  but  a  bootless  toil  to  take  any  measure 
or  to  make  any  endeavour  for  the  regeneration  of 
Islam.  Such  is  the  condition  of  the  generality  of 
Muslims  of  the  present  age,  when  in  spite  of  there 
being  myriads  of  them,  they  have  reached  the  state 
of  such  utter  despair. 

*'.  .  ,  What  is  the  condition  of  Islam  today? 
Country  after  country  is  passing  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  Mussulmans.  Nay,  rather,  they  have  already  lost 
them  all  and  one  by  one  all  the  kingdoms  have  been 
snatched  away  from  them.  It  is  true,  kingdoms  and 
nations  do,  in  the  nature  of  things,  come  to  an  end 
and  no  one  familiar  with  history  finds  any  reason  for 
surprise  in  their  ruin.    For  just  as  the  individual  is 


lS4i    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

subject  to  death,  so  also  the  life  of  kingdoms  and  na- 
tions cannot  help  being  affected  by  the  passage  of  time. 
The  nation,  that  today  holds  the  rule,  does  tomorrow 
lead  a  life  of  dishonour  and  dependency.  Thus  it  is 
a  sign  of  ignorance  to  grieve  over  the  fall  of  any 
nation.  But  the  case  becomes  peculiarly  significant 
when  we  find  a  number  of  kingdoms  belonging  to  dif- 
ferent peoples  and  situated  in  different  parts  of  the 
world,  but  all  professing  one  common  faith,  following 
one  another  in  ruin  in  such  quick  succession.  It  is 
possible  that  the  different  dependencies  of  one  empire 
may  descend  the  steps  of  decline  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  because  it  often  happens  that  there  is  a  similar- 
ity in  the  condition  of  the  different  parts  of  one  em- 
pire. But  when  kingdoms  situated  so  wide  apart  as 
Algeria,  Morocco,  Tripoli,  Egypt,  India,  Persia,  Af- 
ghanistan, Turkistan,  the  Philippines,  the  Sudan, 
Abyssinia,  established  at  diverse  times  and  flourish- 
ing under  the  auspices  of  different  nations  all  come 
to  an  end  almost  simultaneously  and  the  rule  is  every- 
where transferred  from  Muslim  to  non-Muslim  hands, 
the  events  prove  that  the  fall  has  a  special  significance 
and  is  not  the  result  of  occurrences  that  happen  every 
day. 

**In  short,  the  natural  condition  of  the  Mussul- 
mans is  so  weak  that  a  materialist  is  forced  to  exclaim 
that  the  end  of  Islam  is  now  at  hand,  and  that  within 
a  few  days  there  will  be,  for  Islam,  not  a  place  to  hide 
its  head.  The  sight  of  such  a  predicament  is  sure  to 
pain  every  sympathetic  heart,  and  I  know  not  if  there 
is  any  Muslim  who  can  view  the  plight  without  ex- 
periencing a  pang.'* 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  135 

Should  the  Allies  win  doubtless  all  the  Afri- 
can colonies  of  Germany  would  pass  to  France 
and  Great  Britain  which  would  mean  the  trans- 
fer of  1,500,000  more  Moslem  subjects.  An 
Egyptian  paper  stated  (October,  1915)  that 
since  the  war  began  the  British  Empire  had 
grown  3,236,000  square  miles  in  extent — adding 
together  as  new  British  possessions : 

Sq.  Miles 

Egypt    400,000 

Sudan    984,000 

Cyprus     3,600 

Arabia  1,200,000 

German  S.  W.  Africa  322,450 

Togoland   33,700 

Cameroons    191,200 

German  New  Guinea  (including  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm's  Land,  The  Bismarck  Archipelago 
and  the  Caroline,  Pelew,  Marshall,  Solo- 
mon and  Marianne  groups  of  islands)  ....      100,000 

When  we  read  such  items  we  are  reminded 
of  Mark  Twain's  words,  *^The  meek  shall  in-TA  W 
herit  the  earth — ^look  at  the  British !' '  \  \ 

The  history  of  colonial  expansion  in  Africa 
and  Asia  will  only  be  repeated  in  those  regions 
which  before  the  war  were  still  independent  or 
semi-independent.  The  result  is  inevitable  and 
the  process  strangely  familiar.  First  one  hears 
of  ^* spheres  of  influence,"  then  of  ** pacific  pene- 
tration'' by  commerce,  and  finally  the  result  is 
a  protectorate  or  annexation!  Who  can  arrest 
and  who  can  regret  the  process? 

The  danger  of  the  new  situation,  however, 


136    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

is  real.  It  is  that  of  favouritism  or  compromise 
on  the  part  of  those  Christian  Governments 
whose  national  responsibility  for  millions  of 
Moslem  subjects  has  been  increased  or  em- 
phasized through  their  loyalty.  If  new  Egypt 
is  not  to  have  a  new  Sabbath,  and  if  the  sup- 
pression of  vice  and  the  liquor  traffic  does  not 
follow  in  some  measure  the  suppression  of  the 
capitulations,  if  restrictions  should  be  put  upon 
mission  work,  such  as  now  exist  in  Nigeria  and 
the  Sudan,  then  the  second  state  of  Egypt  as  re- 
gards the  Kingdom  would  be  worse  than  the 
first.  We  may  hope,  however,  that  with  all  due 
regard  for  the  sentiments  and  religious  feelings 
of  their  Moslem  subjects,  no  Christian  Govern- 
ment will,  after  the  war,  strengthen  such  Mo- 
hammedan institutions  as  are  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  economic  and  social  progress  of 
the  people;  to  bolster  up  Mohammedanism 
would  be  a  suicidal  policy  for  any  Western 
Government.  If  the  Caliphate  should  disappear 
with  the  fall  of  Turkey,  no  one  need  mourn  the 
painless  dissolution  of  that  which  has  only  had 
existence  on  paper  for  many  decades.  It  will 
make  little  difference  to  the  economic  progress 
or  the  social  uplift  of  the  Moslem  world  whether 
the  Caliphate,  since  it  can  no  longer  be  inde- 
pendent, is  under  the  direction  of  France  in 
Morocco,  or  of  England  in  Egypt  or  Arabia, 
or  becomes  the  glory  of  some  native  Moslem 


THE  POLITICAL  COLLAPSE  137 

prince  in  India.  The  guardianship  of  the 
sacred  cities  is  doubtless  an  important  ques- 
tion for  Moslems,  but  the  world  of  Islam  and 
the  religion  of  the  Prophet  must  look  forward 
to  the  day  when  Mecca  and  Medina  will  be  as 
accessible  as  Benares  and  Lhasa,  as  Jerusalem 
and  Bethlehem. 


IV 

THE  NEW  ISLAM:  HAS  IT  A  FUTURE? 


"The  fact,  if  it  be  a  fact,  that  Mohammedanism  is  a  de- 
clining factor  in  the  religious  life  of  the  world,  is  one  which 
may  be  regarded  from  very  different  points  of  view.  If  we  be- 
lieve that  Christianity  was  intended  for  the  whole  human  race, 
and  if  we  are  prepared  to  make  a  sacrifice  in  order  to  impart 
to  Moslems  the  truths  which  distinguish  Christianity  from 
Islam — truths  such  as  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  the  possibility 
of  reciprocating  the  Divine  love,  and  the  equality  of  the  sexes, 
and  of  all  branches  of  the  human  race  in  th^sTgEt  of  God — then 
may  we  regard  the  decline  of  the  power  of  Islam  as  affording 
an  unique  opportunity  for  the  further  spread  of  the  Christian 
faith.  God  forbid,  however,  that  we  should  look  with  satis- 
faction on  the  decline  of  Islam,  or  that  we  should  do  anything 
to  weaken  the  faith  of  a  single  Moslem  in  his  Prophet,  unless 
we  are  prepared  to  offer  him  what  we  believe  to  be  a  truer 
faith  in  its  place." — Rev.  Chables  H.  Robinson:  "Moham- 
medanism: Has  it  any  Future?" 


IV 
THE  NEW  ISLAM 

And  no  man  putteth  a  piece  of  undressed  cloth 
upon  an  old  garment;  for  that  which  should  fill  it 
up  taketh  from  the  garment,  and  a  worse  rent  ia 
made.  Neither  do  men  put  new  wine  into  old  wine- 
skins: else  the  skins  burst,  and  the  wine  is  spilled, 
and  the  skins  perish :  hut  they  put  new  wine  into  fresh 
wine-skins,  and  both  are  preserved. — ^Matt.  0:  16-17. 

THE  intellectual  awakening  of  the  Moslem 
world  is  due  to  two  causes, — the  impact 
of  European  civilization,  its  best  and  its 
worst,  and  the  political  influence,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  domination  of  Moslem  lands  by- 
western  powers,  as  we  have  seen  in  our  last 
chapter.  Not  only  was  Islam  as  a  political 
system,  as  a  Church  State,  compelled  to  re- 
adjust itself  to  the  new  conditions,  but  at  a 
hundred  points  the  old  Moslem  civilization  was 
itself  compelled  to  give  way  to  a  new  civiliza- 
tion from  the  West.  The  words  of  Lord  Bryce 
are  terribly  true : 

'*We  have  disturbed  their  ancient  ways  of  life  for 
our  own  interests,  because  we  went  among  them,  some 
few  doubtless  with  a  desire  to  do  good,  but  the  great 
majority  from  a  desire  to  make  money  and  to  exploit 

141 


142    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

the  world's  resources  for  the  purposes  of  commerce. 
.  .  .  Are  we  to  do  this  and  yet  not  be  responsible  in 
God's  sight  if  we  fail  to  exert  all  our  efforts  to  give 
these  people  by  our  own  conduct  a  just  view  of  the 
Christianity  we  desire  to  impart  to  them?" 

The  highways  of  commerce  between  the  East 
and  the  West  touch  the  Moslem  world  at  all  its 
great  centres.  Algiers,  Alexandria,  Constanti- 
nople, Bombay,  and  Calcutta  were  the  first  to 
be  influenced,  but  from  decade  to  decade  ever 
since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  West  has  penetrated  ever  more  deeply  into 
the  farthest  corners  of  the  East.  We  can  best 
understand  the  significance  of  this  by  quoting 
Mohammed  Sarf  aran  Khan  of  Naini  Tal,  India, 
one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Moslem  Eeligious 
Congress.  His  address  was  published  in  the 
Moslem  Chronicle  of  Calcutta,  in  1902. 

**With  the  growth  of  European  civilization  and  the 
cultivation  of  English  manners  among  our  educated 
classes,  the  question  of  our  religious  requirements  and 
how  best  they  can  be  met  is  becoming  more  and  more 
prominent  day  by  day,  and  it  is  worth  while  discuss- 
ing the  question,  especially  as  we  have  fortunately 
among  us  a  few  eminent  persons  who  are  fully  alive 
to  the  growing  needs  of  the  modern  civilization  and 
have  also  keen  sympathy  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
their  community.  .  .  .  The  majority  of  the  well-to-do 
Mussulmans  will  be  seen  possessed  of  European  civi- 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       143 

lization  and  manners;  our  ways,  our  dress,  and  even 
our  food  will  be  changed,  and  last,  though  not  least, 
onr  thoughts  will  also  be  completely  changed.  You  can- 
not certainly  check  the  growth  of  civilization,  even  if 
it  should  seem  to  parade  against  your  fixed  notions  of 
religion.  .  .  .  The  rudimentary  principles  of  Islam, 
such  as  to  believe  in  the  unity  pf  God,  to  acquiesce 
faithfully  in  the  teachings  of  the  prophet,  to  admit 
the  necessity  for  prayer,  fastings,  etc.,  and  conform- 
ing to  them  practically,  must  be  held  sacred  and  ad- 
hered to  till  the  last.  The  changes  to  be  introduced 
will  then  be  of  the  following  nature.  These  changes, 
or  at  least  some  of  them,  though  not  formally  sanc- 
tioned by  the  spiritual  authorities,  have  virtually 
been  imperceptibly  adopted  by  many  of  the  enlight- 
ened Mussulmans,  and  are  not  only  the  outcome  of 
their  practical  and  honest  everyday  life,  but  are  also 
the  dictates  of  their  conscience." 


Mohammed  Sarfaran  Khan  then  sums  up  the 
changes  which  he  thinks  desirable:  Prayers 
should  be  made  less  frequent  and  at  more  con- 
venient hours;  the  rules  of  ablution  should  be 
relaxed  to  meet  with  modern  conditions,  and 
concerning  the  fast  of  Ramadhan  he  says: 
**  Cannot  the  hours  be  curtailed,  light  refresh- 
ments allowed  at  intervals,  and  the  Tarawis  re- 
cited, or,  better  still,  lectured  to  a  sitting  audi- 
ence T'  He  is  utterly  opposed  to  polygamy  and 
says  the  purdah  system  must  be  modified. 
After  indicating  all  these  radical  changes  in  the 


144    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

old  Islam,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  adds, 
'*  There  are  many  other  sundry  little  things  to 
be  added  to  this  list." 

Together  with  these  attempts  at  modification 
of  the  Moslem  ritual  and  its  ethical  code,  there 
are  those  bold  enough  to  plead  for  the  vernacu- 
lars as  religious  languages  rather  than  Arabic. 
James  Monro  of  Bengal  quotes  a  Mohammedan 
writer  on  the  subject: 

**What  is  now  called  religion  is  simply  a  lifeless 
form.  A  man  mumbles  certain  sounds,  and  makes 
flexions  of  the  body,  and  he  has  done  all  that  this 
religion  requires  of  him  to  do.  He  is  now  at  liberty 
to  go  and  cheat  his  employer,  render  false  accounts, 
and  speak  a  multiplicity  of  lies.  .  .  .  The  Ulema  have 
always  been  against  a  diffusion  of  knowledge;  they 
wish  to  keep  the  Book  of  God,  and  all  religious  books, 
in  a  foreign  and  unknown  tongue.  They  desire  to 
keep  the  people  in  ignorance  and  superstition,  so  that 
their  influence  and  power  may  continue  unabated. 
.  .  .  It  is  futile  to  hope  for  the  regeneration  of  our 
community  by  means  of  a  revival  of  Arabic  litera- 
ture. .  .  .  Historical  works  in  the  Arabic  language 
are  a  bare  narration  of  occurrences,  and  were  written 
at  a  time  when  there  was  no  idea  of  the  sequence  of 
events  in  the  history  of  human  affairs,  so  that  we  must 
have  recourse  to  English  for  the  acquisition  of  the 
knowledge  of  history  as  well  as  science,  or  we  must 
place  this  knowledge  before  our  young  men  in  the 
garb  of  their  spoken  language.  .  .  .  The  translation 
of  the  Koran  will  be  regularly  read,  and  our  people 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        145 

will  not  have  the  mummery  which  is  now  called  re- 
ligion, but  will  have  true  religion  as  their  constant 
reference  and  real  guide/' 


Another  writer  expresses  himself  even  more 
strongly:  ** Mohammedanism,  as  it  is  generally 
believed  by  the  Mohammedans,  is  a  mere  cant. 
It  has  lost  its  force.  It  has  no  stimulating  in- 
fluence on  the  minds  of  the  believers.  .  .  .  The 
present  Islam  is  a  series  of  questionable  doc- 
trines set  forth  by  Abu  Hanifa  Hambal,  and 
Melik."  Such  views  are  naturally  considered 
rank  heresy  by  the  orthodox  party.  Although 
they  cannot  deny  that  Islam  is  in  need  of  re- 
form, they  hope  the  reform  will  be  a  return  to 
primitive  Islam  rather  than  an  abandonment  of 
its  early  principles  and  practices. 

The  party  of  reform  has  its  advocates  not 
only  in  Turkey  and  Egypt  and  India,  but  even 
in  Arabia  and  Morocco  as  well.  Their  voice  is 
by  the  press  rather  than  the  mosque  pulpit  and 
is  intensive  rather  than  extensive  in  its  influ- 
ence. The  new  Islam  had  its  origin  in  India. 
Reform  movements  began  soon  after  the  Mutiny 
(1858)  under  the  leadership  of  Syed  Ahmad 
Khan.  He  grasped  the  real  value  of  British 
rule  in  India,  was  loyal  during  this  trying 
period,  and  saw  clearly  that  the  greatest  need 
of  the  Mohammedans  in  India  was  education 
and   social   reform.     He   established  English 


146    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

schools,  published  pamphlets,  visited  England, 
and  on  his  return  to  India  began  a  monthly 
periodical  in  Urdu  called  Tahzihu^l  Ahhlaq  or 
Eeform  of  Morals.  This  active  propagandism 
was  followed  by  persecution ;  they  even  threat- 
ened to  kill  him.  But  he  continued  faithful  to 
his  ideals  and  succeeded  in  establishing  the 
Anglo-Mohammedan  College  at  Aligarh.  The 
object  of  this  institution  was  to  give  Moslems 
an  English  education  without  prejudice  to  their 
religion  and,  in  the  words  of  the  prospectus, 
*  *  To  organize  a  boarding-house  to  which  a  par- 
ent may  send  his  son  in  the  confidence  that  the 
boy's  conduct  will  be  carefully  supervised,  and 
in  which  he  will  be  kept  free  from  the  tempta- 
tions which  beset  a  youth  in  big  towns." 
Neither  of  these  objects  seem  to  have  been 
realized,  although  as  an  educational  institution 
of  high  grade,  the  college  has  proved  greatly 
successful.  When  I  visited  the  institution  in 
1904  and  again  in  1911,  conversation  with  the 
principal  and  with  the  boys  themselves  clearly 
showed  that  the  tendency  of  Aligarh  was  to 
lead  young  men  to  unbelief,  or  at  best  to  an 
indefinite  Unitarianism.  Although  attendance 
at  prayers  was  compulsory  and  the  Koran  was  a 
prescribed  text-book,  many  of  the  Moslem  stu- 
dents showed  little  interest  in  Islam. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  Eules  and 
Regulations  in  regard  to  religious  instruction 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       147 

are  very  interesting,  especially  as  I  remember 
how  the  boys  at  the  college  were  quite  unwill- 
ing to  observe  these  rules  and  made  sport  of 
the  facilities,  recently  introduced,  for  washing 
before  prayers.  They  said  the  weather  was  too 
cold  in  any  case  to  wash  so  early  in  the  morn- 
ing: 

*'A11  Mohammedan  boarders  shall  pray  five  times  a 
day,  and,  except  in  case  of  any  reasonable  excuse, 
fast  in  the  month  of  Ramadhan,  and  such  boarders 
for  whom  the  same  is  appointed  shall  read  the  Quran 
at  fixed  hours. 

**Maulvis  of  well-known  learning  and  piety  have 
been  specially  appointed  to  supervise  the  religious  life 
of  the  students  and  conduct  the  prayers  in  the  col- 
lege mosque. 

''Religious  instruction  is  given  to  Mussulman 
students,  to  Sunnis  by  a  Sunni,  and  to  Shiahs  by  a 
Shiah ;  the  books  of  theology  taught  are  prescribed  by 
committees  of  orthodox  Sunnis  and  Shiahs,  respec- 
tively. 

''The  first  period  of  each  day's  work  is  devoted  to 
the  lectures  on  theology,  and  attendance  at  these  lec- 
tures is  enforced  by  regulations  as  stringent  as  those 
regulating  the  ordinary  class  work  of  the  college. 

"Attendance  at  prayers  in  the  college  mosque  is 
also  compulsory,  and  students  who  are  irregular  are 
severely  punished.'' 

In  spite  of  these  regulations,  it  is  the  general 
opinion  in  India  that  Aligarh  College,  although 


148    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

it  has  a  good  record  for  scholarship^  does  not 
produce  strong  character,  nor  are  those  that 
graduate  Moslems  at  heart.  Mr.  Mohammed 
Aziz  Maqdoum  in  trying  to  defend  Aligarh  and 
in  pleading  for  a  Mohammedan  University,  wrote 
in  the  Muslim  Review  (1910):  '*The  truth  is 
that  western  education  as  imported  at  present 
demolishes  the  old  building  of  one 's  beliefs,  but 
does  not  arrange  for  the  construction  of  another 
and  more  beautiful.  The  mind  is  unhinged;  it 
knows  not  where  to  go  to  find  repose,  till  at 
last  Jeremy  Bentham  and  Herbert  Spencer 
dawn  to  it  as  embodiments  of  sound  logic,  wis- 
dom, and  commonsense.  The  consequence  is  not 
very  pleasant  to  look  upon.  The  Hindu  rails 
against  the  rulers,  the  Muslim  turns  traitor  to 
the  traditions  of  unflinching  loyalty  to  Islam. 
Islam  is  a  dead  letter  in  educated  circles. 
Where  the  Koran  was  read  daily  in  the  morning 
formerly,  there,  now,  the  Pioneer  ^  has  taken  its 
place. '  * 

In  religion  Sir  Syed  Ahmad  and  his  followers 
were  rationalistic  Mohammedans,  liberal  in 
their  view  of  Christianity.  Syed  Ahmad  did  not 
believe  that  the  Christians  had  corrupted  the 
text  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  On  the  con- 
trary he  began  to  publish  a  commentary  on 
Genesis,  of  which  one  volume  has  been  printed. 
It  is  interesting  from  every  point  of  view:  a 

*  An  English  daily  newspaper  published  in  Allahabad. 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       149 

volume  of  398  pages  in  Urdu  and  Arabic  paral- 
lel columns,  printed  privately  at  Ghazeepore  in 
1862.  In  the  preliminary  discourse,  which 
occupies  250  pages,  the  author  gives  an  account 
of  the  character  of  revelation,  the  classification 
of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  the  translations  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  apocryphal  books,  and  the  chro- 
nology of  the  Old  Testament.  In  the  Commen- 
tary on  Genesis  the  author  gives  the  Hebrew 
text  as  well  and  compares  the  story  with  that 
given  in  the  Koran.  It  is  unfortunate  that  this 
work  was  never  completed. 

More  remarkable  still  was  his  view  of  Koran 
inspiration.  He  believed  it  contained  human 
elements  as  well  as  divine.  He  made  much  of 
reason  and  said  it  was  sufficient  guide  to  inter- 
pret revelation.  He  spoke  and  wrote  in  favour 
of  natural  religion  and,  therefore,  his  fol- 
lowers in  India  are  called  Naturis  or  Necharis 
even  in  census  reports.  Syed  Amir  Ali  and 
Maulvie  Chiragh  Ali  accepted  these  principles 
and  propagated  them  in  their  books.  Amir 
All's  ** Spirit  of  Islam"  is  perhaps  the  most 
clever,  although  in  a  sense  unscrupulous, 
apology  for  Mohammedanism  in  the  English 
language.  He  holds  that  the  Koran  really  dis- 
courages slavery,  religious  war,  polygamy,  and 
the  seclusion  of  women. 

Syed  Amir  Ali  has  had  his  followers,  but 
competent  observers  are  of  the  opinion  that 


160    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OP  ISLAM 

the  current  toward  rationalism  in  Islam 
has  already  spent  itself  and  that  there 
is  rather  a  relapse  toward  a  passive  ac- 
ceptance of  Moslem  orthodoxy.  There  is  no 
doubt,  however,  that  the  movement  has  tended 
to  increased  openness  and  fairness  of  mind 
among  the  educated  classes.  In  1885  there  was 
founded  in  the  city  of  Lahore  a  society  for  the 
defence  of  Islam  called  Anjuman-i-Himayet-i- 
Islam.  In  the  prospectus  the  objects  of  this 
society  are  set  forth  as  follows: 

1.  (a)  Rationally  and  intelligently  to  answer, 
through  verbal  discussion  or  in  writing,  any  accusa- 
tions advanced  against  Islam,  and  to  further  its 
propagation. 

(h)  To  impart  suitable  and  necessary  education  to 
Muslim  boys  and  girls,  and  save  them  from  abjuring 
their  own  true  faith. 

(c)  To  take  upon  itself  the  maintenance  and  edu- 
cation, to  the  best  of  its  ability,  of  Muhammadan 
orphans,  and  to  render  all  possible  educational  aid 
to  poor  Muslim  boys  and  girls,  so  as  to  save  them 
from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  followers  of  other 
religions. 

(d)  To  improve  the  social,  moral,  and  intellectual 
condition  of  the  Muslim  community  and  initiate 
measures  conducive  to  the  creation  and  preservation 
of  friendly  feelings  and  concord  toward  the  different 
sects  of  Islam. 

(e)  To  bring  home  to  the  Muhammadans  the  ad- 
vantages of  loyalty  to  the  British  Government. 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        151 

II.  For  the  realization  of  its  objects,  the  Anjuman 
shall  appoint  preachers,  issue  a  monthly  magazine, 
establish  educational  institutions  and  orphanages, 
and  make  use  of  other  necessary  means. 


While  the  theology  of  this  school  is  profess- 
edly orthodox  their  methods  are  thoroughly 
modern.  They  favour  female  education  and 
have  nine  girls'  schools  at  Lahore,  also  an 
Arts  College,  called  the  Islamia  College,  with 
200  pupils.  The  propaganda  organized  is  rather 
to  withstand  and  hinder  the  work  of  missions 
than  to  preach  among  the  low  castes.  In  1894 
another  defence  association  was  formed  called 
Nadwat-ul-Ulama,  with  its  central  office  in 
Lucknow.  Their  methods  are  similar.  They 
advocate  social  reform  and  publish  a  magazine. 
A  third  society  of  the  same  nature  has  organized 
a  theological  seminary  at  Cawnpore.  At  other 
centres  there  are  similar  movements.  Perhaps 
special  mention  should  be  made  of  the  Moham- 
medan Book  and  Tract  Depot  at  Lahore. 

In  regard  to  all  these  movements  for  the  de- 
fence of  Islam  in  India,  Mr.  J.  N.  Farquhar,  in 
his  recent  book  ^*  Modern  Religious  Movements 
in  India, ' '  rightly  states :  *  ^  The  triumphant  re- 
vival of  the  old  religions,  with  their  growing 
bodyguard  of  defence  organizations,  has  been 
accompanied  by  continuous  and  steadily  in- 
creasing inner  decay.    This  most  significant  of 


152    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

all  facts  in  the  history  of  these  movements 
seems  to  be  scarcely  perceived  by  the  leaders. ' ' 
And  although  he  speaks  more  particularly  of 
the  movements  in  Hinduism,  what  he  says  ap- 
plies also  to  Islam.  Christ's  parable  of  the 
leaven  has  its  application  today.  All  these  re- 
form movements  owe  their  impetus  to  Chris- 
tianity. To  quote  once  more  from  Mr.  Farqu- 
har:  **Every  student  will  notice  how  remarkably 
close  the  parallel  is  between  the  revival  of  the 
ancient  religions  of  the  Eoman  Empire  in  the 
early  Christian  centuries  and  these  movements 
in  India  in  our  own  days. ' ' 

When  we  turn  from  India  to  Turkey  and  hear 
the  voice  of  its  reformers  who  are  advocating  a 
new  Islam  as  the  hope,  social  and  political,  for 
the  Ottoman  Empire,  the  protest  against  the  old 
religion  is  equally  strong.  In  a  series  of  Mos- 
lem sermons  preached  at  Constantinople  just 
after  the  proclamation  of  the  Constitution, 
Ahmed  Na'im  Effendi  demanded  the  reform  of 
the  Moslem  pulpit,  the  removal  of  hypocrites 
from  power,  and  advocated  that  preachers  must 
be  men  of  common  sense  who  must  know  *4iow 
to  guide  to  the  virtues  of  thrift  a  nation  which 
prefers  vain  acts  of  religious  worship ' '  to  moral 
conduct. 

** Picture  him  to  yourself,''  he  says,  ^^as  he 
mounts  that  exalted  place  without  any  share 
of  the  rich  capital  of  learning.    In  order  to  hold 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        153 

the  attention  of  the  audience,  as  best  his  wits 
suggest,  he  begins  to  whack  the  desk,  and  in 
order  to  entertain  the  assembly,  he  begins  to 
busy  the  hour  with  fables  which  circulate  among 
the  vulgar  throng.  These  fabulous  inventions, 
to  which  God  and  His  Prophet  are  foreign,  lead 
the  people  astray.  Hundreds  of  our  young  men, 
who  have  not  learned  anything  at  home  or  at 
school  concerning  the  religion,  are  by  these 
fables  thrown  into  misapprehension  and  sus- 
picion about  the  faith  of  Islam.  These  fables 
make  patriotic  Moslems  indignant.  They  are 
the  occasion  for  foreigners  to  deride  us  with 
laughter.  At  last  the  time  for  putting  an  end 
to  this  state  of  affairs  has  come.'^ 

Another  preacher  in  the  same  pulpit  sum- 
marized the  causes  of  Moslem  decline  as  due 
to  a  **  departure  from  the  fundamentals,  di- 
vergence of  sects,  criticisms  from  hostile  per- 
sons, lack  of  freedom  to  make  the  necessary  de- 
fence, selfish  considerations,  the  new  current  of 
European  philosophy,  deliberate  misinterpre- 
tations, failures  to  be  aware  of  the  situa- 
tion, the  daily  degeneration  of  the  national 
morality,  and  the  despotic  ideas  which  have 
been  dragged  along  from  the  end  of  the  Rashid 
Caliphate." 

In  Russia  the  leading  spirit  of  reform  has 
been  Ismail  Gasprinsky  Bey,  who,  as  editor  and 
journalist,  has  exercised  a  wide  influence  not 


154f    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

only  among  the  Mohammedans  of  Eussia,  but  in 
India  and  the  Near  East.  He  proposed  a  Pan- 
Islamic  Congress  in  Cairo ;  edited  a  critical  text 
of  the  Koran  which,  strange  to  say,  was  copy- 
righted, took  a  journey  to  India  to  advocate 
educational  reform  among  the  Mohammedans, 
secured  the  translation  of  Kasim  Amin  Bey's 
book  on  the  New  Woman,  and  in  many  other 
ways  influenced  the  educated  Moslems  of  Russia 
until  today  they  are  perhaps  the  most  ad- 
vanced of  all  Mohammedans  of  that  school. 


The  Pbess 

From  all  that  has  been  said  you  see  that  the 
power  of  the  press  is  the  main  propagating 
agency  of  this  new  Movement.  Moslems  under- 
stand as  Christians  should  that  no  agency 
**can  penetrate  among  the  masses  so  deeply, 
abide  so  persistently,  witness  so  daringly  and 
influence  so  irresistibly  as  the  printed  page.'' 
The  high  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  Moslem 
lands  is,  of  course,  a  barrier  to  the  progress  of 
ideas  among  the  masses,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
the  fact  should  be  emphasized  that  the  five  or 
ten  per  cent  of  the  people  who  are  able  to  read 
are  ipso  facto  the  leaders  and  are  looked  up  to 
as  men  of  authority. 

It  is  in  the  Moslem  press  that  we  can  best 
study  the  conflict  which  began  only  a  few  dec- 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        155 

ades  ago  and  is  still  going  on  ever  more  fiercely 
between  the  old  and  the  new  schools  of  thought. 
When  the  new  Islam  used  the  press  as  a  propa- 
gating agency,  the  old  Islam  was  compelled 
to  use  it  in  self-defence,  with  the  result  that 
nothing  is  more  interesting  to  the  missionary 
than  to  study  the  thought  of  the  people  as  re- 
flected in  the  press.  The  enormous  growth  of 
journalism — a  mushroom  growth  in  most  cases 
— is  itself  very  significant.  Many  of  the  news- 
papers and  periodicals  were  suppressed  by  the 
Governments  of  Persia,  Turkey,  and  Egypt, 
some  even  in  India.  Others  were  voices  crying 
in  the  wilderness  and  had  not  sufficient  support 
to  win  a  hearing.  By  means  of  these  news- 
papers, books,  pamphlets,  and  leaflets,  how- 
ever, each  Mohammedan  country  is  kept  in  com- 
munication with  all  others.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  Arabic  and  Persian  journalism.  Cairo 
is  the  intellectual  centre  of  the  Moslem  world 
and  also  of  the  Arabic  press.  Constantinople 
has  had  its  influence  as  the  city  of  the  Caliphate, 
but  Turkish  is  not  a  world  language.  In  re- 
gard to  Persian,  however,  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  it  lies  in  the  centre  of  the  Moham- 
medan area  of  Asia  and  has  for  centuries  had 
intellectual  supremacy  even  in  India,  that  this 
language,  as  a  Moslem  expressed  it,  has 
**Aryanized*'  the  Mohammedan  religion. 


156    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

The  history  of  the  press  in  modern  Persia  has 
followed  closely  the  constitutional  movement. 
Professor  Edward  Gr.  Browne,  who  has  written 
a  most  interesting  monograph  on  the  subject, 
with  facsimile  reproductions  of  some  of  the  car- 
toons, gives  a  list  of  371  newspapers  and  jour- 
nals that  have  been  published  in  Persia  in  re- 
cent years.  Many  of  these  are  now  defunct, 
yet  it  would  seem  as  if  Persians  really  thought 
they  could  save  their  country  by  shedding  ink. 
Some  of  the  editors,  however,  laid  down  their 
lives  in  the  struggle  for  or  against  Constitu- 
tional liberty.  Some  of  these  newspapers  were 
published  under  great  difficulty.  **One  was 
published  secretly,  and  the  issue  was  limited  to 
300  copies,  which  were  placed  in  envelopes  like 
letters  and  sent  with  various  precautions  to 
statesmen,  theologians,  merchants,  and  others 
in  Persia.  Often,  in  order  to  conceal  the  place 
of  publication,  they  were  first  sent  to  Paris, 
London,  etc.,  to  be  forwarded  thence  to  Persia. 
At  the  top  of  one  copy  stands  the  inscription, 
'Published  once  in  forty  years.'  "  The  po- 
litical and  patriotic  poetry  which  appeared  in 
these  journals  is  deeply  interesting.  They 
throw  much  light  on  the  history  of  the  Persian 
Revolution  and  the  events  that  have  followed. 
A  hopeless  pessimism  characterizes  most  of  this 
poetry,  however,  and  Islam  seems  doomed. 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        157 

"  I  see  the  Standard  of  the  Faith  reversed  by  the  hands  of  the 
infidels ! 
A  thousand  times,  alas!     May  my  pen  break!     Mosque  and 

Mihrab 
I  see  obliterated  under  the  feet  of  the  Christians !  " 


The  extent  and  character  and  the  enormous 
influence  of  the  Arabic  press  may  be  judged 
from  a  collection  of  Arabic  newspapers  gath- 
ered by  Count  de  Terrazzi  and  recently  pur- 
chased in  Beirut  for  the  Hamburg  Kolonial 
Institut.    The  collection  includes : 


1.  455  specimens  of  daily  Arabic  newspapers,  dis- 
tributed as  follows:  Cairo,  96;  Alexandria,  28;  the 
rest  of  Egypt  and  the  Sudan,  6;  Beirut,  60;  Jeru- 
salem, 5;  Constantinople,  16;  Jaffa,  3;  Bagdad,  33; 
Busrah,  9;  Tripolis  (Syria),  9;  Damascus,  22;  Hama 
and  Homs,  11;  Lebanon,  24;  Aleppo,  15;  Ladikijja, 
3;  the  rest  of  Turkey,  13;  Europe  (Paris,  12;  Lon- 
don, 4;  Sardinia,  Malta,  St.  Petersburg),  21;  Al- 
giers, 6 ;  Morocco,  3 ;  Tunis,  26 ;  Tripoli,  3 ;  New  York, 
12 ;  Buenos  Ayres,  5 ;  St.  Paulo,  8 ;  Rio  de  Janeiro,  3 ; 
Montreal,  3;  the  rest  of  America,  8;  Zanzibar,  2; 
Singapore,  2. 

2.  239  journals,  distributed  as  follows :  Cairo,  121 ; 
Alexandria,  24 ;  the  rest  of  Egypt,  7 ;  Beirut,  34 ;  Con- 
stantinople, 1;  Jaffa  1;  Bagdad,  4;  Tripolis 
(Syria),  3;  Damascus,  5;  Hama  and  Homs,  4;  Leb- 
anon, 8;  Aleppo,  2;  the  rest  of  Turkey,  6;  Mar- 
seilles, 1 ;  Algiers,  1 ;  Morocco,  1 ;  Tunis,  4 ;  Lucknow, 
1 ;  New  York,  5 ;  Buenos  Ayres,  3 ;  St.  Paulo,  2 ;  Mon- 
treal, 1. 


158    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

It  is  significant  of  the  rapid  development 
of  the  Arabic  press  that  Professor  Martin 
Hartmann  in  his  book,  ^^The  Arabic  Press  in 
Egypt,"  published  in  1898,  gave  168  as  the 
number  of  newspapers  and  journals  in  that 
country.  In  this  collection  there  are  282  and 
doubtless  many  have  been  started  and  failed 
within  the  intervening  fifteen  years.  It  would 
be  safe  to  say  that  five-sixths  of  all  these  papers 
are  under  Moslem  direction  and  are  read  by 
Mohammedans.^ 


*  The  present  list  of  Arabic  and  Foreign  papers  published  in 
Cairo  is  as  follows: — 

ARABIC  NEWSPAPERS  AND  MAGAZINES 


Al  Mokattam 

Al  Ahram 

Al  Moeyyad 

Al  Watan 

Misr 

Al  Jarida 

Al  Afkar 

Al  'Amran 

Al  Mahrousa 

Al  Manar 

Al  Moktataf 

Al  Hilal 

Al  Mohit 

Al  Majnun 

Fatat-ash-Shark 

Misr  el  Fattat 

Al  Mahakem 

Musamarat  -  esh  - 

Sha'ab 
Al  Istiklal 
Al  Masamir 
Al  Meftah 
Al  Tewfik 
Al  Gins-al-Latif 


Tawah  al  Molouk 

Hakmat 

Gahrat 

Wadi  en  Nil 

Al  Ahali 

Al  Akhbar 

Risalat  Allah 

El  Huda 

Al  Alam 

Al  Lewa 

Al  Adab 

Al  Barid  al  Masri 

Buq  el  Kadasa 

Al  Affaf 

Al  Waqai  el  Mas- 

riah 
Ash     Shark     w'al 

Gharb 
Al  Hayat 
Al  Huqouq 
Sarkis 
At  Ta'awin  al  Is- 

lamy 
Basha'ir  es  Salam 
Total,  64. 


Tabib  el  Al'la 

Al  Fadila 

Ash  Sha'ab 

Sehion 

As  Sa'ada 

Al      Majjala      al 

Arabia 
Majjalat    es    Sidq 

el  Othmani 
Sada     an      Ne*ma 

w'al  Haqq 
Al  Kaenat 
Mizan  al  Eitedal 
Az  Zoohour 
Ar  Rewayat  al  Ja- 

dida 
As  Seif 
Al  Bayan 
Ar  Raqquib 
Al  Watania 
Al  Karma 
Ramsis 
Al  Mo'allem 
El  Ittehad 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       159 

In  regard  to  Eussia,  a  recent  number  of 
Revue  du  Monde  Musulman  gives  statistics  of 
that  country  as  a  literary  centre  for  Moham- 
medans. During  the  year  1912,  631  new  pub- 
lications appeared  from  the  Moslem  press.  Of 
these  no  less  than  249  were  published  at  Kazan ; 
64  at  Orenbourg;  and  these  two  places  are  the 
chief  centres  of  literary  effort,  although  we 
must  not  forget  Bakou  and  Tiflis.  According  to 
the  statistics  given,  the  largest  number  of  books 
were  in  Arabic;  the  next  largest  in  Sart;  178 
were  religious  publications;  95  classical  publi- 
cations; 35  poetry;  80  general  literature;  24 
books  for  children;  24  theatrical  publications; 
13  on  geography,  and  10  on  social  questions. 


EUROPEAN  PAPERS 


Le      Journal      du 

Agyptische     Nach- 

Cairo  Sports 

Caire 

richten 

La  Gazetta 

Le  Progreg 

Archolovice 

Daphni 

La    Bourse 

Egyp- 

D6p§che      T6l6gra- 

The  Times 

tienne 

phique 

The  Students'  Aid 

L'Egypt    & 

Egyp- 

Ikaros 

Museum 

t  i  a  n     Morning 

L'Echo  d'Egypt 

Le  Nil 

News 

The    Sporting    Re- 

Le Journal  de  Hil- 

L'Imperziale 

view 

wan 

Kairon 

La    Revue     Egyp- 

La      Sant6      (avec 

Chronos 

tienne 

Edition  Arabe) 

Egyptian 

Daily 

Cairo         Scientific 

Hossank 

Post 

Journal 

Mioutoum 

Loussaper 

The  Egyptian  Mail 

La   Griffe 

Phos 

La  vie  Egyptienne 

Sphinx 

Cairo  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
Total,  36. 

- 

Arabic       64 
European  36 

100 


160    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Only  3  of  the  books  printed  were  suppressed 
by  the  Russian  Government. 

In  regard  to  the  press  of  Turkey  I  must  men- 
tion Kadinlar  Dunyassi  (The  Feminine  World), 
a  weekly  illustrated  paper  devoted  to  women's 
interests,  whose  pages  are  open  to  any  woman 
writer  who  cares  to  contribute.  It  was  started, 
first  of  all,  as  a  daily  illustrated  paper — rather 
an  ambitious  idea,  but  as  such  it  was  a  failure, 
and  was,  therefore,  quickly  converted  into  an 
illustrated  weekly.  The  proprietor  and  editress 
of  the  paper,  Oulvye  Mevlane  Hanoum,  had  no 
experience  whatsoever  either  of  editing  or  of 
the  business  side  of  running  a  paper ;  therefore, 
the  result  of  her  effort  is  doubly  interesting. 
She  understood  that  if  a  serious  society  for  the 
advancement  of  women  was  to  be  founded  they 
must  have  an  organ  in  which  to  explain  their 
views.    She  saw  the  need,  and  she  supplied  it. 

The  Javanese  press  and  that  of  the  Malay 
Peninsula  is  not  as  extensive  as  that  of  the 
Near  East,  but  it  is  no  less  influential.  Singa- 
pore and  Batavia  are  the  great  centres  of  lit- 
erary activity.  One  of  the  Javanese  papers  has 
a  regular  correspondent  at  Al  Azhar  Uni- 
versity. The  press  at  Singapore,  as  well  as  at 
such  isolated  centres  as  Mauritius,  Zanzibar, 
and  Colombo,  generally  gets  its  information 
and  outlook  from  the  press  in  India. 

A  Moslem  Congress  of  the  Sharikat  el  Islam 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        161 

was  recently  held  at  Solo,  Java,  when  not  less 
than  30,000  people  were  present.  One  thousand 
six  hundred  native  workmen  on  the  States  rail- 
way received  permission  to  attend.  The  presi- 
dent of  the  Congress  was  Hajji  Samanhoedi, 
and  the  vice-president  E.  M.  Tdokroaminoto, 
a  journalist  of  Surabaja.  The  latter  opened 
the  Congress  in  an  address  of  welcome,  in 
which  he  paid  a  tribute  to  H.  M.  Queen  Wilr 
helmina  of  Holland.  He  stated  that  the  object 
of  the  Sarikat  Islam  (Javanese  for  Sharikat  el 
Islam,  or  Moslem  Union)  was  to  further  Mo- 
hammedan interests  and  the  Moslem  faith,  na- 
tive industries,  freedom,  and  brotherhood.  The 
Sarikat  Islam  seems  in  some  respects  to  be  a 
successor  of  the  Boedi  Oetama,  the  Young 
Javanese  movement  for  self-government  and 
nationalism,  but  is  on  a  larger  scale  and  ap- 
pears more  religious  in  character,  the  formei; 
being  largely  political.  At  Modjo-Warno  the 
native  Christians  have  started  a  society  in  op- 
position to  the  Sarikat  el  Islam,  and  they 
already  have  many  members.  One  of  the  mis- 
sionaries writes,  **What  the  future  of  the  move- 
ment will  be  no  one  can  say,  but  it  is  certain 
that  within  the  past  year  greater  changes  have 
come  into  the  minds  of  the  Javanese  than  in 
the  past  twenty-five  years.  We  stand  before  a 
new  epoch.  Will  it  be  favourable  for  the  spread 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ?    It  is  a  call 


16a    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

to  persevering  prayer  that  Java  in  its  present 
awakening  may  not  only  desire  education  and 
true  nationalism,  but  also  that  salvation  which 
is  only  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. ' ' 

In  social  life  the  position  of  womanhood  has 
naturally  attracted  the  attention  of  the  new 
Islam.  Advocates  of  monogamy,  the  abolition 
of  the  veil,  and  the  evil  of  divorce  have  ap- 
peared in  India,  Turkey,  Persia,  and  Egypt. 
Perhaps  the  most  outstanding  figure  is  that  of 
Kasim  Amin  Bey,  who  died  at  Cairo  in  April, 
1908.  He  was  born  in  Egypt  and  there  re- 
ceived his  early  education,  but  when  a  young 
man  studied  law  in  France.  His  celebrated 
book,  *  *  The  New  Woman, ' '  has  been  translated 
recently  into  Kussian  from  the  second  Arabic 
edition,  and  has  had  not  only  a  large  circulation, 
but  has  busied  the  pens  of  many  scribes  in  at- 
tempts at  reply. 

*^If  the  Egyptians  wish  to  improve  their 
position,"  he  writes,  *Hhey  must  begin  at  the 
beginning.  They  must  become  convinced  that 
there  is  no  hope  of  being  a  living  nation,  enjoy- 
ing authority  among  the  foremost  nationalities, 
and  receiving  a  place  in  the  civilized  world,  until 
their  homes  and  families  are  in  a  condition  to 
form  a  fit  centre  for  the  training  of  men  pos- 
sessed of  those  qualities  from  which  it  is  pos- 
sible to  expect  success.  There  is  no  hope  that 
their  homes  and  families  will  be  such  centres 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        163 

until  women  receive  education  and  share  with 
their  husbands  their  thoughts,  hopes,  and  sor- 
rows, even  if  they  cannot  take  part  in  their 
business." 

Again  he  says:  *'Man  is  the  absolute  master 
and  woman  the  slave.  She  is  the  object  of  his 
sensual  pleasures,  a  toy,  as  it  were,  with  which 
he  plays,  whenever  and  however  he  pleases. 
Knowledge  is  his,  ignorance  is  hers.  The  firma- 
ment and  the  light  are  his,  darkness  and  the 
dungeon  are  hers.  His  is  to  command,  hers  is 
to  blindly  obey.  His  is  everything  that  is,  and 
she  is  an  insignificant  part  of  that  everything. 

**Ask  those  that  are  married  if  they  are  loved 
by  their  wives,  and  they  will  answer  in  the 
affirmative.  The  truth,  however,  is  the  reverse. 
I  have  personally  investigated  the  conditions 
of  a  number  of  families  that  are  supposed  to  be 
living  in  harmony,  peace,  and  love,  and  I  have 
not  found  one  husband  who  truly  loved  his  wife, 
or  one  wife  who  evinced  a  sincere  affection  for 
her  husband.  This  outward  appearance  of 
peace  and  harmony — this  thin  veneering — only 
means  one  of  three  things,  namely,  either  the 
husband  is  made  callous  and  nonchalant  by  in- 
cessant strife,  and  has  finally  decided  to  let 
things  take  their  course ;  or  the  wife  allows 
herself  to  be  utilized  as  an  ordinary  chattel, 
without  uttering  a  protest ;  or  both  parties  are 
ignorant  and  do  not  appreciate  the  true  value 


164?    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

of  life.  In  this  last  case,  the  parties  are  nearer 
to  a  sort  of  happiness  than  in  the  former  two, 
although  their  happiness  is  negative  in  quan- 
tity and  evanescent  in  nature. '* 

The  women  of  Egypt  themselves  have  ap- 
pealed at  the  bar  of  justice  against  the  terrible 
wrongs  which  they  suffer  under  the  old  Islam. 
Somewhat  after  the  style  of  Pierre  Loti's 
*^Desenchantes,''  the  celebrated  books  by  Mme. 
Eushdi  Pasha  on  Life  in  the  Harem,  especially 
^'Les  Eepudiees,''  corroborate  the  verdict  of 
missionaries,  which  is  often  criticized  by  those 
who  do  not  know  the  facts,  as  sensational  or 
professional.  Under  the  nom  de  plume  of 
Baheth  el  Badia,  Malik  Hafni  Nasif ,  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Inspector  in  the  Ministry  of  Educa- 
tion, wrote  a  series  of  articles  in  Al  Jarida, 
fearlessly  advocating  the  abolishing  of  all  the 
primitive  evils  of  Islam  that  burden  the  home, 
calling  for  higher  standards  of  ethics,  and  show- 
ing the  evils  of  polygamy  and  of  early  mar- 
riage. One  may  judge  both  the  strength  of  this 
movement  and  its  need  of  support  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  fortified  by  an  appendix  of  testi- 
monials from  leading  educated  Egyptians  to 
the  sentiments  expressed. 

The  greatest  stir,  however,  among  Moslems 
of  the  old  school,  was  made  by  a  book  published 
in  French  at  Paris,  under  the  title,  **La  Con- 
dition de  la  Femme  dans  la  Tradition  et  PEvo- 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        165 

lution  de  PIslamisme, ' '  by  Mansour  Fahmy.  He 
not  only  diagnoses  the  evil,  but  shows  its  origin. 
He  was  not  satisfied  to  indict  polygamy,  but 
dared  indict  the  early  polygamists  of  Islam,  in- 
cluding the  Prophet  himself.  A  Moslem  of  the 
new  school,  he  received  his  doctorate  from  the 
University  of  Paris,  is  an  ardent  admirer  of 
the  late  Kasim  Amin,  and  is  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  Moslem  literature  and  thought. 

In  his  preface  he  states  that  the  object  of  his 
study  is  to  give  the  reasons  for  the  present  de- 
graded condition  of  women  in  Moslem  lands, 
tracing  the  history  of  her  position  from  the 
earliest  Moslem  period  to  the  present  day.  He 
leaves  no  doubt  that  in  many  respects  the  con- 
dition of  women  in  Arabia  before  Islam  was 
superior  to  what  it  is  now,  and  that  her  posi- 
tion under  Islam  gradually  deteriorated  until 
the  recent  revival  of  Moslem  thought  and  the 
efforts  for  the  elevation  of  womanhood.  He 
follows  the  course  of  later  Mohammedan  litera- 
ture, and  quotes  authorities  who  cannot  be 
doubted  to  prove  his  position.  **  Moslem  litera- 
ture," he  says,  *4n  its  historic  development  has 
degraded  the  position  of  women  more  and  more, 
and  consequently  has  degraded  itself.  It  is  a 
striking  phenomenon  in  the  story  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  Arabic  poetry."  In  support  of  his  con- 
tention he  quotes  from  Al  Ghazali  and  Siouti, 
showing  that  their  view  of  womanhood  is  so 


166    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

degraded  that  it  cannot  be  presented  to  polite 
readers. 

The  author  deals  fearlessly  with  Mohammed 
the  Prophet,  his  marriages,  his  home  life,  and 
his  opinion  concerning  women.  Sometimes  his 
sarcastic  references  to  what  the  God  of  Mo- 
hammed allowed  in  the  Prophet's  harem  leave 
one  to  wonder  whether  he  is  a  good  Moslem. 
The  veil,  in  its  present  form  and  usage,  he  says, 
did  not  exist  before  the  time  of  the  Prophet. 
The  very  terms  used  today  are  not  found  in 
early  Arabic  literature.  The  successive  steps 
in  what  the  author  calls  the  degradation  of  the 
condition  of  womanhood  are  traced  through  the 
history  of  the  Caliphs  and  later  dynasties.  A 
chapter  deals  with  the  fact  of  concubinage  and 
slavery  in  the  status  of  womanhood,  while  an- 
other chapter  gives  an  excellent  summary  of 
the  position  of  women,  the  Moslem  law,  and  the 
question  of  divorce  and  of  dowry.  He  states 
that  although  in  theory  the  position  of  the  wife 
was  ameliorated,  yet  practically  it  was  de- 
based under  Islam.  Her  incapacity  in  Moslem 
law  is  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  both  as  a 
witness  and  in  the  inheritance  of  property,  her 
sex  is  counted  against  her. 

On  the  other  hand  Syed  Amir  Ali  of  India  in 
his  essay,  ** Polygamy  in  Islam,"  attempts  to 
justify  Mohammed  by  saying  that  polygamy 
was  a  temporary  institution.     *'The  greatest 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       167 

mistake  of  Christians  is  their  saying  that  Mo- 
hammed was  the  first  one  to  make  polygamy 
lawful,  for  we  can  show  that  this  is  untrue. 
Mohammed  found  polygamy  prevalent,  and  it 
remained  so.  In  Persia  this  was  the  time  of 
moral  degradation,  and  there  was  no  law  re- 
garding plural  marriages,  the  man  taking  as 
many  wives  and  concubines  as  he  wished.  The 
early  Arabs  and  the  Jews  had  a  custom  also 
of  marrying  on  conditions,  besides  for  a  certain 
time,  which  would  have  brought  disaster  to 
Arabia  had  not  God  interposed  and  sent  the 
Prophet  of  God  to  raise  the  position  of  women 
and  elevate  society  generally. ' ' 

The  most  radical  attack,  however,  on  the  old 
orthodox  view  of  the  rights  of  women,  appeared 
recently  in  Al  Jerida,  from  the  pen  of  a  Moslem 
student  in  London,  Tewfik  Diab.  He  asks  why 
women  should  be  veiled  at  all !  ^  *  Is  it  because 
the  Mohammedan  religion  makes  the  veil  a 
necessity?  If  so,  why  do  you  believe  one  part 
of  your  religion  and  disbelieve  another?  Why 
obey  what  is  very  obscurely  laid  down,  and  dis- 
regard doctrines  that  are  definite  and  clear? 
Why  not  whip  the  drunkard  and  the  man  who 
neglects  his  prayers ;  why  not  cut  off  the  arm  of 
the  thief,  and  stone  the  adulterer  and  the  adul- 
teress? (as  is  laid  down  in  the  Koran).  Do 
you  really  veil  your  women  in  order  to  guard 
their  honour?    Are  you  really  afraid  that  if 


168    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

your  womenfolk  leave  home  unveiled,  their 
passions  will  get  the  better  of  them  and  they 
will  lose  control  over  themselves  ?  Do  you  think 
that  a  chastity  that  can  only  be  maintained  in  a 
prison  is  worth  much?  Do  you  think  that  hon- 
our which  can  only  be  protected  by  a  rag  on  the 
face  is  an  honour  preserved?  Does  a  cage  turn 
a  lioness  into  an  ewe?  Or  does  the  devil  be- 
come an  angel  by  wearing  a  veil?*' 

Another  progressive  Mohammedan,  Mr.  M.  S. 
Mohidin,  a  magistrate  of  Madras,  who  wishes 
to  break  down  the  purdah,  offered  in  1911  a 
prize  of  1,000  Eupees  to  any  one  who  could 
prove  from  the  Koran  or  the  traditions  of  the 
Prophet  that  the  seclusion  of  women  is  author- 
ized ;  he  also  brought  the  matter  before  the  Uni- 
versal Races  Congress  of  1911  and  spoke  of 
the  miseries  of  the  purdah  system — ignorance 
through  want  of  education,  and  lung  diseases 
through  want  of  fresh  air.  He  declared:  **We 
boast  of  having  given  to  women,  according  to 
the  Koran,  the  highest  place  compared  with 
other  nations,  but  of  what  use  is  this  privilege 
if  their  very  existence  is  to  be  that  of  birds  in 
gilded  cages  ?  We  imprison  half  our  number — 
to  our  own  cost.  We  are  single-handed  in  com- 
petition with  others  in  the  onward  march  of 
progress." 

Even  during  the  days  of  the  war,  the  daily 
papers  of  Cairo  are  carrying  on  a  brisk  cam- 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        169 

paign  for  women's  rights.  The  Wady-en-Nil 
had  a  series  of  articles  against  polygamy  as  the 
foe  of  home  life  in  Egypt,  by  an  able  writer, 
while  Al-Moayyad  translated  some  articles  by 
western  writers  describing  the  degradation  of 
womanhood  in  Egypt,  and  appealing  for  re- 
form (July  1914;  April  1915).  Most  remark- 
able of  all  was  an  article  in  Al-Moayyad  (March 
9,  1915)  asking  that  in  every  mosque  special 
places  should  be  arranged  for  women  worship- 
pers, and  that  religious  schools  be  opened  for 
them  in  connection  with  the  mosques.  All  the 
leaders  in  the  new  Islamic  movement  are  agreed 
on  that  which  some  western  writers  still  seem 
to  doubt,  namely,  the  degradation  of  woman- 
hood and  the  great  need  for  reform.  S.  Khuda 
Bukhsh  in  his  ** Essays  Indian  and  Islamic" 
does  not  hesitate  to  write  of  Moslem  society  in 
India  in  the  following  terms : 

''It  would  be  the  merest  affectation  to  contend  that 
religious  and  social  systems,  bequeathed  to  us  thir- 
teen hundred  years  ago,  should  now  be  adopted  in 
their  entirety  without  the  slightest  change  or  altera- 
tion. This  is  exactly  the  battlefield  on  which  for 
the  last  fifty  years  a  relentless  war  has  been  waged  in 
India  between  the  party  of  light  and  hope  and  the 
party  which  is  wedded  to  the  old  order  of  things. 
Though  the  God  of  battles  has  not  yet  pronounced 
His  verdict,  the  signs  of  the  times  are  clear  enough. 
It  is  certain  that  the  party  opposed  to  progress  has 


170    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

not  a  very  long  lease  of  life  left  to  it.  It  is  doomed 
and  dying,  and  it  migJit  as  well  reason  with  tlie  winds 
or  threaten  the  waves  of  the  sea.'* 

In  addition  to  the  question  of  women's  rights, 
there  are  other  questions  that  agitate  the  minds 
of  the  educated  because  they  concern  the  prog- 
ress of  Moslem  nations.  One  of  them  is  that  of 
interest  and  banking.  It  is  well-known  that  ac- 
cording to  the  old  Islam  usury  is  a  crime  more 
grievous  than  adultery  or  murder,  and  the  tra- 
ditions are  full  of  prophetic  sayings  on  this 
subject;  but  where  interest  is  forbidden  and 
banking  illegal,  the  wheels  of  commercial  prog- 
ress stand  still.  A  Moslem  will  open  an  account 
at  a  bank,  but  will  refuse  to  take  interest  on 
the  deposits.  This  is  the  case  even  today  in 
such  centres  as  Bombay  and  Cairo.  Voices 
have  been  raised  in  protest,  and  Moslems  of 
the  new  school  have  abandoned  both  Koran  and 
tradition  by  a  new  interpretation.  An  interest- 
ing article  on  the  ^*  Deterioration  of  Vitality 
Among  Present  Day  Mohammedans,''  which 
appeared  in  the  Muslim  Review  (Allahabad, 
1910)  says: 

**  Without  venturing  out  in  any  controversial  de- 
tails as  regards  the  legality  or  otherwise  of  interest, 
this  much  I  must  say  in  this  connection,  that  the  day 
will  be  very  fortunate  indeed — in  fact,  a  red-letter 
day — ^when  the  savants  can  gather  courage  to  remove 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?        171 

the  great  drag  that  is  attached  to  the  wheel  of  com- 
mercial enterprises  among  Muhammadans.  Islam 
was  a  boon  in  preventing  an  unequitable  usury,  in 
recommending  the  practice  of  no  interest  on  advances 
between  people,  for  they  were  brothers  to  one  an- 
other and  the  early  Arabs  were,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, in  a  state  of  poverty.  But  is  the  world  the  same 
as  fourteen  hundred  years  back?  Is  not  a  bank  an 
incorporate  body?  Do  not  commercial  enterprises  de- 
pend upon  banks?  Do  not  others  take  interest  from 
us  in  courts  and  outside  them?  Does  the  law  of  the 
land  discountenance  interest?  I  dare  say  these  and 
similar  suggestions  lead  us  into  greater  and  greater 
difficulties.  Things  have  changed  greatly  in  the 
meantime,  and  where  the  Koran,  the  prophet's  com- 
mands and  his  actions  are  silent,  may  we  not  under 
urgent  exigencies  of  the  time  come  to  a  decision  ac- 
cording to  our  best  and  conscientious  judgment,  keep- 
ing in  mind  the  progressive  spirit  of  Islam." 

The  new  Islam  is  not  only  a  revolt  against 
tradition  because  of  its  ritualism  and  mediaeval 
beliefs  and  practices;  it  is  also  a  moral  revolt 
against  the  ethical  standards  of  Mohammed  and 
his  companions,  as  recorded  in  tradition.  Edu- 
cated Moslems  find  it  very  difficult  to  accept  the 
Koran  without  explaining  away  its  indictment 
of  the  Prophet.  Attempts  must  be  made  at  any 
cost  of  truth  and  logic  to  prove  that  he  was  not 
only  a  great  leader  but  a  worthy  ideal  and  ex- 
emplary in  his  conduct.  The  first  and  by  far 
the  most  successful  attempt  in  this  direction 


11%    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

was  that  by  Syed  Amir  Ali  in  his  celebrated 
book,  **The  Spirit  of  Islam  or  Life  and  Teach- 
ings of  Mohammed/'  which  has  had  a  very 
large  circulation.  The  object  of  the  book  and 
its  character  can  be  judged  by  what  the  author 
says  in  the  preface: 

'  *  Unitarianism  and  Theism  are  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  Islam  of  Mohammed,  shorn  of  the  dis- 
ciplinary rules  framed  for  the  guidance  of  the  com- 
mon folk.  .  .  .  The  Islam  of  Mohammed,  with  its 
stern  discipline  and  its  severe  morality,  has  proved 
itself  the  only  practical  religion  for  low  natures  to 
save  them  from  drifting  into  a  lawless  materialism. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  should  the  creed  of  the 
Arabian  Prophet  receive  acceptance  among  European 
communities,  much  of  the  rigid  formalism  which  has 
been  imparted  to  it  by  the  lawyers  of  Central  Asia 
and  Irak  will  have  to  be  abandoned.  Perhaps  the 
present  exposition  of  the  true  Spirit  of  Islam  may 
help  in  the  diffusion  of  Islamic  ideas  in  the  West.'* 

No  less  an  authority  than  Professor  Mac- 
donald,  however,  states  that  the  conclusions 
reached  in  this  volume,  as  well  as  in  the  other 
writings  of  Amir  Ali,  **are  only  obtained  by 
suppressio  veri/'  Those  who  have  not  read  the 
sources  and  are  unacquainted  with  the  life  of 
the  Prophet  as  there  recorded,  may  well  be  fas- 
cinated by  the  ideal  portrait  given  us  by  this 
class  of  writers.    One  of  them,  Maulvie  Moham- 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       173 

med  *Ali,  M.A.,  LL.B.,  speaks  of  Mohammed  in 
these  terms:  **The  spiritual  resurrection 
brought  about  by  the  Holy  Prophet  is  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  was 
not  a  reformation  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word;  it  was  a  thorough  transformation  of  a 
whole  nation,  a  transformation  which  raised  a 
people  from  the  depth  of  degradation  to  the 
height  of  civilization. ' ' 

The  Habl-ul-Matin  published  last  year  a 
series  of  articles  on  the  Evidences  of  Islam. 
One  may  judge  the  character  of  this  latest 
apologetic  if  we  quote  a  paragraph  or  two  re- 
garding the  Prophet  and  the  Koran.  The 
writer  begins  by  saying  that  the  evidences  of 
Islam  are  of  the  same  nature  as  those  generally 
advanced  in  favour  of  Christianity;  and  that, 
inasmuch  as  Islam  claims  to  be  the  fulfilment 
and  completion  of  Christianity,  all  evidence 
which  tends  to  establish  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Scriptures  is  so  much  evidence  for,  and  not 
against  Islam.    Regarding  Mohammed  he  says  : 

'*No  bad  man  could  possibly  have  conceived  or 
would  have  promulgated  so  perfect  and  stringent  a 
code  of  morals,  or  one  so  emphatically  denouncing  the 
wrath  of  God  upon  hypocrisy  and  sin,  as  the  Koran 
is  and  does;  and  no  good  man  would  or  could  have 
put  forward  such  a  work  if  he  was  not  assured  of 
its  divine  authority.  The  Prophet  could  not  possibly, 
therefore,  have  been  an  impostor,  neither  could  he 


174    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

have  been  a  mere  enthusiast  or  fanatic,  or  a  self- 
deluded  man,  or  one  misled  by  others,  for  none  of 
these  could  by  any  possibility  have  produced  a  work 
like  the  Koran,  published  in  the  manner  in  which  it 
was,  and  possessing  the  characteristics  it  presents; 
neither  could  any  of  these  have  lived  the  consistent, 
blameless,  open  life  that  the  Prophet  did." 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  whatever 
cargo  is  thrown  overboard  by  the  new  Islam  in 
their  attempts  to  save  the  ship,  no  one  is  ever 
tempted  to  suggest  a  new  captain.  Whatever 
Moslems  of  the  new  school  reject,  they  remain 
loyal  to  the  prophetship  of  Mohammed.  The 
second  article  of  the  Moslem  creed  is  held  with 
fanatic  devotion  even  by  those  who  have  them- 
selves progressed  far  beyond  his  attainments, 
socially  and  morally.  The  result,  however,  of 
all  these  attempts  to  whitewash  the  Prophet 
must  inevitably  fail  when  the  spirit  of  true 
criticism  has  its  way.  One  of  the  best  mis- 
sionary methods  among  this  class  is  the  pub- 
lication and  circulation  of  books  such  as  Ibn 
Hisham,  El  Wakhidi,  and  Et  Tahari,  A  British 
merchant  in  Alexandria  who  is  a  careful  student 
of  Islam  and  of  present  conditions,  believes  that 
the  publication  in  English  translation  of  these 
standard  works,  including  Bokhari's  traditions, 
would  deal  a  death  blow  to  Islam  among  the 
educated  classes  of  India  and  Egypt. 

Professor  C.  Snouck  Hurgronje  in  his  lee- 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       175 

tures  on  Mohammedanism,  given  two  years  ago 
at  Columbia  and  Princeton,  expressed  the  opin- 
ion that  the  future  development  of  Islam  would 
repeat  with  an  amazing  degree  of  similarity  the 
history  of  Judaism.  Speaking  of  the  Moslem 
students  who  attend  the  universities  of  Europe, 
who  have  forsaken  nearly  all  the  rites  of  their 
religion,  who  dress  and  eat  as  Christians  do, 
he  said:  **But  the  tenor  of  their  mind — that 
is  still  Mohammedan,  I  have  had  Mohammedan 
students  in  my  own  classes,  and  when  I  came 
to  receive  their  theses  I  would  find  there  the 
expressions  of  Mohammedan  thought  in  a  form 
totally  different  from  anything  that  my  other 
students  would  write.  I  could  always  recog- 
nize a  Mohammedan  from  his  thesis.  And 
among  the  intellectuals  there  is  the  same  atti- 
tude toward  the  old  law  and  the  old  doctrine 
that  is  preserved  by  the  intellectuals  among 
the  Jews  today,  and  the  longer  I  have  lived 
among  Mohammedan  peoples  the  more  have  I 
become  convinced  that  Islam  will  follow  with 
an  amazing  degree  of  similarity  the  develop- 
ment which  Judaism  has  followed  in  its  later 
history. ' ' 

Professor  Hurgronje,  however,  fails  to  see 
what  his  words  imply.  Judaism  gave  its  best 
to  Christianity  in  converted  leaders,  from  Saul 
of  Tarsus  all  down  the  centuries  to  Edersheim, 
Delitzsch,  and  Adolph  Saphir.    Judaism  has  to- 


176    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

day  lost  its  power  and  its  prestige.  Christianity 
has  supplanted  it  in  all  those  lands  where  once 
it  had  a  dominating  influence.  May  we  not  look 
forward  to  the  same  result  in  the  case  of  Islam  f 

Of  the  attitude  of  the  new  Islam  toward 
Christ  and  Christianity  we  speak  in  our  next 
lecture.  But  I  wish  to  speak  now  of  the  at- 
tempts made  to  bridge  the  chasm  between  the 
Cross  and  the  Crescent.  I  have  here  a  curious 
illustration:  a  diagram  prepared  by  a  retired 
government  engineer  at  Alexandria.  It  is  in- 
dicative at  least  of  a  spirit  of  reconciliation, 
although  in  itself  it  is  nothing  more  than  an 
arithmetical  curiosity  and  an  illustration  of 
the  vagaries  of  the  Moslem  mind.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  the  sheet  is  a  balance,  in  one  scale  of 
which  is  a  cross  and  its  Arabic  name,  Salib; 
and  in  the  other,  a  crescent  and  the  Arabic  word 
Islam  or  Islamism;  while  above  the  fulcrum  of 
the  balance  is  the  word  Allah,  or  God,  and  be- 
low it  the  word  qalb  or  heart. 

By  adding  the  value  of  the  letters  of  the 
word  Allah  (every  letter  of  the  Arabic  alphabet 
has  a  value,  as  those  acquainted  with  Arabic 
know),  this  engineer  finds  that  they  make  132, 
which  divided  by  two  is  sixty-six,  which  is 
equivalent  to  the  value  of  the  letters  of  the  word 
qalh  or  heart.  Again,  by  adding  together  the 
value  of  the  letters  of  the  word  Islam,  he  finds 
that  they  make  132,  which  is  exactly  the  same 


ac=-i 


m 


§11  ^Mj 


Am     /^    /.i|^ 


1  i^^Sii    i  ^  a""  .?'  1 1 1  IS:,:. 

i    -^--IH^r  •T**'    ^V     irM    «  <.       -«i»      •  ^;s'.'ik'.ll,  I  • 


v/'jr.iii 


3;4fe<-«4'?^^i»fe»^ 


Portion  of  a  curious  diagram  representing  a  reconciling  attempt  to  bridge 
the  chasm  between  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent.  (For  explanation  see 
pages  176,  177.) 


HAS  NEW  ISLAM  A  FUTURE?       177 

as  that  of  the  word  salih  or  cross.  Moreover, 
the  figures  representing  Islam,  placed  in  the 
right  scale  of  the  balance,  which  are  132,  make 
six  if  added  from  right  to  left,  and  those  rep- 
resenting salib,  if  added  from  left  to  right, 
make  tho  same  figure;  and  both  placed  where 
they  meet  side  by  side  make  sixty-six,  which  is 
the  equivalent  of  the  word  Allah,  a  fact  which, 
according  to  the  ingenious  engineer,  proves  the 
concord  that  ought  to  exist  among  the  elements 
of  those  who  profess  both  religions.  There  are 
also  mottoes  and  quotations  from  the  Koran 
to  show  that  there  is  to  be  no  compulsion  in 
religion,  and  that  Islam  teaches  a  universal 
brotherhood. 

Finally,  we  must  note  that  the  new  Islam  is 
active  in  propagandism.  In  India  and  in  Africa 
the  leaders  openly  advocate  work  among  the 
depressed  classes  or  Animists.  They  have  sent 
missionaries  to  South  Africa  and  to  Japan,  to 
London  and  New  York  and  South  America.  Be- 
cause of  the  success  of  mass  movements  in 
India,  they  are  there  imitating  Christians  in 
their  efforts  to  win  the  lower  castes.  **  The 
time  has  come,''  said  the  Muslim  Review  (Alla- 
habad, 1910)  when  Moslems  should  awake  and 
teach,  by  pure  living  and  their  own  example, 
the  principles  and  practices  of  Islam.  There 
are  millions  of  the  lower  castes  in  the  Punjab 
Eastern  Bengal,  Madras,  the  Deccan,  and  the 


178    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Hills,  whose  very  touch  pollutes  a  Hindu,  but 
who  naturally  desire  to  be  treated  like  human 
beings.  But  for  the  intervention  of  the  British 
Government  and  some  of  the  native  States  their 
condition  would  have  been  much  more  deplor- 
able. To  preach  Islam  among  them,  to  allow 
them  equal  rights  of  humanity,  and  to  educate 
them,  will  be  welcomed  by  all  lovers  of 
humanity. ' ' 

Yet  our  review  of  the  New  Islam  and  its 
future  may  well  conclude  by  reminding  our- 
selves of  the  scientific  fact  that  hybrids  do  not 
propagate  and  by  pointing  out  in  the  words  of 
Tertullian  that  **  men  do  not  generally  care  to 
die  for  the  compromises  made  between  the  faith 
of  the  Church  and  the  philosophies  of  the 
heathen  world.'* 


THE  PRESENT-DAY  ATTITUDE  TO 
CHRIST   AND   CHRISTIANITY 


"We  must  so  preach  Christ  to  the  Moslem  world  that  it 
shall  recognize  we  have  in  Him  what  they,  as  Mohammedans, 
are  seeking  apart  from  Him.  They  are  seeking  forgiveness  of 
sins,  we  have  it  in  virtue  of  His  death;  they  are  seeking  for 
mediators,  in  the  risen  and  living  Christ  we  have  the  true 
Mediator.  They  cry  aloud  for  God's  representatives,  in  the 
God-Man  we  have  Him  Who  was  of  our  flesh  and  blood  and 
yet  very  God  of  very  God.  He  stands  in  our  stead.  They  toil 
over  a  dead  obscure  Book  from  God,  we  have  His  living  Word, 
the  Scriptures  which  bring  Christ  home  to  the  hearts  of  men. 
They  have  much  to  say  of  the  One  Almighty  and  yet  so  dis- 
tant God,  we  have  His  plentitude  in  the  Three  in  One,  Who  has 
drawn  near  to  us  in  Christ.  They  dream  of  dark  powers  from 
God,  in  us  His  Spirit  is  at  work.  They  long  for  mystical 
union  with  God,  in  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  we  enjoy  com- 
munion with  God  which  recreates  our  life  anew.  They  in- 
toxicate their  senses  with  the  joys  of  a  future  Paradise,  we 
know  a  world  which  is  above  where  Christ  is." — Gottfried 
Simon  :  "  The  Progress  and  Arrest  of  Islam  in  Sumatra.'* 


PRESENT-DAY  ATTITUDE  TOWARD 
CHRIST  AND  CHRISTIANITY  ^ 


The  Son  of  his  love;  in  whom  we  have  our  redemp- 
tion, the  forgiveness  of  our  sins:  who  is  the  image  of 
the  invisible  Ood,  the  first  horn  of  all  creation;  for 
in  him  were  all  things  created,  in  the  heaA)ens  and 
upon  the  earth,  things  visible  and  things  invisible, 
whether  thrones  or  dominions  or  principalities  or 
powers;  all  things  have  been  created  through  him 
and  unto  him;  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  in  him 
all  things  consist.  And  he  is  the  head  of  the  body, 
the  church:  who  is  the  beginning,  the  firstborn  from 
the  dead;  that  in  all  things  he  might  have  the  pre- 
eminence.— COLOSSIANS  1:  13-18. 


AS  in  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  the  glory 
and  the  beauty  of  the  heavenly  orb  are 
hidden,  and  only  the  corona  appears  on 
the  edge,  so  in  the  life  and  thought  of  Moham- 
medans their  own  Prophet  has  almost  eclipsed 
Jesus  Christ.  Whatever  place  He  may  occupy 
in  the  Koran — and  the  portrait  there  given  is  a 
sad  caricature ;  whatever  favourable  critics  may 
say  about  Christ's  honourable  place  among  the 
Moslem  prophets,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
the  large  bulk  of  Mohammedans  know  extremely 

*  The  middle  portion  of  this  lecture  has  already  appeared  in 
print  as  Chapter  XIV  in  the  author's  recent  volume  "Mo- 
hammed or  Christ."     London,  1915. — S.  Z. 

181 


18a    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

little,  and  think  still  less,  about  Jesus  Christ.  He 
has  no  place  in  their  hearts  nor  in  their  lives. 
All  the  prophets  have  not  only  been  succeeded, 
but  supplanted  by  Mohammed ;  he  is  at  once  the 
sealer  and  concealer  of  all  former  revelations. 
Mohammed  is  always  in  the  foreground,  and 
Jesus  Christ,  in  spite  of  his  lofty  titles  and  the 
honour  given  him  in  the  Koran,  is  in  the  back- 
ground. There  is  not  a  single  biography  of 
Jesusi  Christ,  alone  and  unique,  as  a  great 
prophet  of  God,  to  be  found  in  the  literature 
of  Islam.  Christ  is  grouped  with  the  other 
prophets;  with  Lot,  Alexander  the  Great,  Ish- 
mael,  Moses,  Abraham,  Adam. 

I  have  shown  in  my  book,  **The  Moslem 
Christ,''  the  significance  of  Christ's  names  in 
the  Koran,  the  account  of  His  life,  death,  and 
translation,  and  also  the  fuller  account,  although 
caricatured,  of  His  life  and  ministry,  accord- 
ing to  Moslem  tradition.  In  all  missionary 
effort  for  Mohammedans  the  one  question  that 
decides  both  the  destiny  of  men  and  of  nations 
ever  remains,  what  think  ye  of  the  Christ? 

In  treating  of  the  present-day  attitude  among 
Moslems  toward  Christ  and  Christianity,  we 
have  emphasized  modern  movements  and  the 
new  Islam  rather  than  the  traditional  and  his- 
toric attitude  of  the  old  Islam.  Yet  we  must 
not  forget  that  by  its  very  nature  this  world 
faith  joins  issue  with  everything  that  is  vital 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  183 

in  the  Christian  religion,  because  it  joins  issue 
in  its  attitude  toward  the  Christ.  By  this  it 
must  stand  or  fall.  In  this  respect  all  schools 
of  Moslem  thought  are  practically  the  same. 
They  differ  in  ritual  and  tradition ;  in  interpre- 
tations, broad  and  narrow ;  in  going  back  to  the 
old  Koran  or  in  advocating  the  new  Islam ;  but 
whether  Shiahs  or  Sunnis,  Wahabis  or  follow- 
ers of  Syed  Amir  Ali,  their  position  as  regards 
the  Christ  is  practically  the  same. 

**  Islam,"  says  Rev.  G.  Simon  of  Sumatra, 
**is  not  a  preparation  for  Christianity;  it  is 
easier  to  build  on  a  strange  soil  than  first  of 
all  to  tear  down  old  buildings  which  are  so 
firmly  set  together  that  they  offer  an  unsur- 
mountable  obstacle  to  demolition. ' '  ^  The  reso- 
lution passed  by  the  Lucknow  Conference,  1911, 
expressed  this  sentiment  even  more  forcibly : 

**This  Conference  is  persuaded  that,  in  order  to 
stem  the  tide  of  Moslem  advance,  it  is  important  to 
strengthen  the  work  among  animistic  tribes,  pagan 
communities,  and  depressed  classes  affected  by  this 
advance ;  for  we  are  clearly  of  opinion  that  adoption 
of  the  faith  of  Islam  by  the  pagan  people  is  in  no 
sense  whatever  a  stepping-stone  towards,  or  a  prepara- 
tion for,  Christianity,  but  exactly  the  reverse." 

Christianity  gladly  admits  the  strength  of 
theism  as  a  basis  of  unity  between  Islam  and 

*  Edinburgh  Conference  Report,  Vol.  IV,  p.  147. 


v^. 


184.    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Christianity.  We  assert  as  strongly  as  do  all 
Moslems  that  there  is  only  one  God,  but  because 
there  is  only  one  God  there  can  be  only  one 
Gospel  and  one  Christ.  The  words  of  Br, 
James  Denny  are  significant  in  this  connection: 

'*As  there  is  only  one  God,  so  there  can  he  only 
one  Gospel.  If  God  has  really  done  something  in 
Christ  on  which  the  salvation  of  the  world  depends, 
and  if  He  has  made  it  known,  then  it  is  a  Christian 
dnty  to  be  intolerant  of  everything  which  ignores, 
denies,  or  explains  it  away.  The  man  who  perverts 
it  is  the  worst  enemy  of  God  and  man ;  and  it  is  not 
bad  temper  or  narrow-mindedness  in  St.  Paul  which 
explains  this  vehement  language  [Galatians  1:9];  it 
is  the  jealousy  of  God  which  has  kindled  in  a  soul 
redeemed  by  the  death  of  Christ  a  corresponding  jeal- 
ousy for  the  Saviour.'* 

**  It  pleased  the  Father"  that  in  Jesus  Christ 
''all  fulness  should  dwell";  not  in  Mohammed. 
**In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily";  not  in  Mohammed.  **In  Him  are  hid 
all  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge";  not 
in  Mohammed.  **He  is  the  way,  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life";  not  Mohammed.  This  is  the  issue 
which  cannot  be  avoided. 

A  belief  in  the  deity  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour  may  be  a  mere  matter  of  creed,  the 
acceptance  of  a  form  of  statement  without  per- 
sonal investigation,  the  acceptance  of  a  theo- 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  185 

logical  dogma  based  on  logical  proofs  without 
personal  experience ;  or  it  may  be  a  conviction 
of  the  heart,  an  experience  of  the  soul,  a  pas- 
sion in  one's  life.  In  no  part  of  the  world's 
battlefield  for  righteousness  and  truth  does  be- 
lief in  the  deity  of  Jesus  Christ  so  naturally  and 
almost  spontaneously  turn  this  mere  theologi- 
cal dogma  into  a  spiritual  experience,  a  logical 
necessity,  and  a  great  passion,  as  when  face  to 
face  with  Mohammedan  denials  of  the  claims  of 
our  Saviour,  and  their  practical  deification  of 
Mohammed. 

The  utter  helplessness  and  hopelessness  of 
missionary  work  among  Moslems  on  the  part  of 
any  one  who  wavers  or  is  uncertain  regarding 
this  belief  in  the  deity  of  Christ  is  self-evident. 
The  Moslem  doctrine  of  God  and  their  denial 
of  Jesus  Christ,  His  incarnation.  His  atone- 
ment. His  deity,  are  the  very  issues  of  the  con- 
flict. The  Koran  denies  all  that  which  is  the 
supreme  glory  of  the  Saviour  and  which  makes 
Him  a  Saviour  at  all.  Although  both  in  the 
Koran  and  in  tradition  Jesus  Christ  has  a  high 
place  among  the  prophets,  and  Moslems  are 
willing  to  admit  His  sinlessness  and  power  to 
work  miracles,  all  this  does  not  distinguish  His 
person  in  any  way,  as  to  His  nature,  from  other 
prophets  who  came  before  Him.  Christ  to  them 
occupies  no  supreme  place  in  heaven,  nor  does 
He  in  history.    He  has  been  at  once  succeeded 


186    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

and  superseded  by  Mohammed  in  this  respect. 
It  is  this  anti- Christian  character  of  the  great- 
est of  all  the  non-Christian  religions  which  com- 
pels every  worker  among  Moslems  to  look  upon 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  or  of  the  deity  of 
Jesus  Christ  not  as  mere  orthodox  belief,  but 
as  the  very  life  and  heart  of  Christianity,  with- 
out which  we  have  no  message,  no  motive  power, 
and  no  hope  of  success. 

The  old  Islam  refuses  compromise  with 
Christianity  and  fully  understands  that  the  gulf 
in  theological  teaching  cannot  be  bridged. 
Their  attitude  toward  Christ  is  traditional,  but 
toward  Christianity,  especially  among  those  who 
hope  that  Islam  will  yet  be  victorious  every- 
where, is  that  of  defiance  and  opposition.  Al- 
though the  political  situation  holds  in  check 
Moslem  fanaticism  and  prevents  freedom  of 
speech  through  the  censorship  of  the  press,  we 
must  not  be  deceived  by  this  outward  calm. 
When  circumstances  are  favourable  and  hearts 
are  inflamed  with  passion,  the  Moslems  of  the 
old  school,  both  Shiahs  and  Sunnis,  have  shown 
by  their  jihads  and  the  massacre  of  Christians 
• — their  neighbours  and  outwardly  their  friends 
— ^what  their  real  feeling  is.  The  story  of  the 
Armenian  massacres  is  still  in  our  minds,  and 
what  took  place  at  Urumia  and  Salmas  and 
Van  might  have  happened  in  Cairo  or  Calcutta 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war  had  it  not 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  187 

been  for  the  strong  hand  of  th^  British  Gov- 
ernment. 

Not  only  is  the  symbol  of  the  Cross  a  stum- 
bling block  to  the  Moslem  of  the  old  school,  but 
the  doctrine  of  the  Cross  is  to  him  foolishness. 
The  leading  Moslem  paper  of  Cairo  character- 
ized the  belief  in  the  Crucifixion  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Christian  religion,  and  then  sum- 
marized the  objections  to  it  as  follows; 

1.  It  is  opposed  to  reason. 

2.  It  is  opposed  to  theism.  How  can  God, 
who  is  omnipresent  and  everlasting,  degrade 
Himself  by  dwelling  in  a  virgin's  womb? 

3.  It  is  opposed  to  God's  knowledge;  for  the 
plan  of  salvation — if  such  it  is — ^was  an  after- 
thought. 

4.  It  is  opposed  to  both  the  mercy  and  jus- 
tice of  God;  to  His  mercy  because  he  allowed 
Christ  to  suffer,  being  innocent,  without  de- 
livering Him;  and  to  His  justice  in  allowing 
those  who  crucified  Him  to  do  it  unpunished. 

5.  It  leads  to  impiety,  because  if  this  is  the 
way  of  salvation,  then  no  matter  how  wicked 
a  man  is  he  finds  deliverance  through  the 
Cross,  and  will  never  be  punished  for  his 
sins. 

6.  It  is  unnecessary.  We  have  never  heard 
it  stated  by  any  reasonable  person,  or  those  who 
are  learned  in  law,  that  the  attribute  of  justice 
is  abrogated  by  the  pardon  of  a  criminal;  on 


188    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

the  contrary,  it  is  considered  a  virtue  to  pardon 
an  offender.    Why  should  not  God  do  so? 

The  old  Islam,  true  to  Koran  teaching  and 
the  place  always  given  to  Jesus  among  the 
greater  prophets,  confesses  Christ  with  their 
lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  accepting  His 
message.  They  do  not  attack  the  character  of 
Jesus  as  do  some  of  the  Moslems  of  the  new 
school.  On  the  other  hand,  they  exceed  them 
in  their  violent  opposition  to  Christian  mis- 
sions. The  Egyptian  press  is  typical  in  that 
respect.  Esh-Sh'ab,  once  one  of  the  leading 
papers,  on  March  1,  1914,  had  an  editorial  on 
the  deceitful  dealings  of  missionaries  who,  by 
mission  boats  on  the  Nile,  hospitals,  and 
schools,  laid  traps  for  the  unwary.  The  same 
paper,  publishing  a  missionary  report  of  a 
girl's  conversion,  said,  ** Where  are  your  wits, 
0  ye  who  profess  the  religion  of  Islam!  Why 
do  you  not  oppose  these  bitterest  enemies  of 
your  faith  instead  of  leaving  your  daughters  to 
be  won  over  by  their  teaching."  The  public  is 
warned  against  attending  Christian  meetings, 
and  the  preacher  and  his  message  are  made  the 
subject  of  scurrilous  poems,  as  was  the  case  in 
Misr-al-Fitat,  1913. 

AW  Aim  the  day  after  Christmas,  1910,  spoke 
of  the  observance  of  Christmas  Day  as  a  holi- 
day in  the  Government  schools  of  Egypt  as  a 
dangerous  heresy.    **It  is  quite  enough  for  us 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  189 

that  we  should  see  you  rejoicing  while  we  Mos- 
lems are  roasting  on  the  fire  of  unrest.  It  is 
quite  enough  that  we  see  you  opposing  our  po- 
litical independence  and  raising  your  flags  of 
joy  in  our  country.  Why  should  we  longer  show 
patience?" 

Esh-Sha'ah  spoke  of  the  attendance  at  Chris- 
tian meetings  as  follows:  **The  attendance  at 
these  meetings  is  one  of  the  greatest  evils  a 
Moslem  can  commit.  God  will  punish  it  more 
severely  in  the  last  day  than  adultery  or  drunk- 
enness. Yea,  it  is  the  most  terrible  of  crimes 
whether  from  the  point  of  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence or  from  that  of  politics.  Do  you  doubt 
the  truth  of  your  religion,  0  Moslems,  that  you 
seek  advice  from  your  enemies  1 ' ' 

The  Egyptian  press,  like  that  of  Turkey, 
often  advocates  the  boycotting  of  all  Christian 
institutions,  including  mission  hospitals.  In 
Esh-Sha'ab,  June  23,  1914,  a  full  page  article 
appeared  attacking  Beirut  College  and  char- 
acterizing its  Bible  teaching  as  subversive  of 
Islam.  **0  fathers  who  have  hearkened  to  the 
voice  of  the  ignorant,  why  have  you  plunged 
your  precious  children  into  this  fire  of  hell 
where  devils  are  their  guardians?" 

Perhaps  the  greatest  stir  in  the  Moslem  press 
was  made  by  a  conference  of  the  Protestant 
Church  in  Egypt  held  a  few  years  ago  (1911), 
which  had  for  its  motto  *' Egypt  for  Christ." 


190    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

This  challenge  greatly  aroused  the  ire  of  the  old 
school.  *  *  Egypt, ' '  they  said,  *  ^  has  been  Moslem 
for  thirteen  centuries.  We  must  not  allow  Prot- 
estants even  to  speak  of  Egypt  belonging  to 
Christ.  How  can  they  dream  of  Islam  dis- 
appearing?'' 

We  may  sum  up  the  situation  as  regards  the 
vast  majority  of  Mohammedans  of  the  unedu- 
cated classes  or  those  whose  education  still  fol- 
lows the  old  lines  of  thought,  by  saying  that 
their  attitude  toward  Christ  and  Christianity, 
although  modified  to  some  extent  by  contact 
with  Christians,  and  especially  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Christian  hospitals  and  schools,  still 
remains  what  it  was  throughout  the  past  cen- 
turies. Afghanistan  is  a  closed  land  for  no 
other  reason  than  because  it  is  Moslem,  and  the 
chief  danger  to  travel  across  the  Arabian  penin- 
sula in  any  direction  is  the  fact  of  being  a  Chris- 
tian. Some  years  ago  Sheikh  Abd-ul-Haqq,  of 
Bagdad,  a  Moslem  of  the  old  school,  wrote  an 
article  on  behalf  of  the  Pan-Islamic  league.  It 
appeared  in  a  French  journal  and  was  entitled 
**The  Final  Word  of  Islam  to  Europe.'' 

'*For  us  in  the  world  there  are  only  believers  and 
unbelievers;  love,  charity,  fraternity  toward  believ- 
ers; contempt,  disgust,  hatred,  and  war  against  un- 
believers. Amongst  unbelievers  the  most  hateful  and 
criminal  are  those  who,  while  recognizing  God,  at- 
tribute to  Him  earthly  relationships,  give  Him  a  son, 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  191 

a  mother.  Learn  then,  European  observers,  that  a 
Christian  of  no  matter  what  position,  from  the  simple 
fact  that  he  is  a  Christian,  is  in  our  eyes  a  blind  man 
fallen  from  all  human  dignity." 

But  what  of  the  Europeanized  Moslem  of  the 
new  school? 

Perhaps  it  is  a  fair  estimate  to  say  that 
from  two  to  four  millions  of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  Moslem  world  have  so  far  adopted 
western  education  and  broken  away  from  the 
old  Islamic  standards  of  orthodox  tradition 
that  they  should  be  classified  as  Moslems  of  the 
new  school.  These  are  found  especially  in  India, 
Egypt,  Turkey,  Algiers,  and  Persia.  Not  all 
of  them  have  adopted  western  civilization,  but 
western  educational  methods  and  ideals  have 
compelled  them  to  restate  their  own  beliefs  or 
doubts,  and  to  modify  their  social  and  moral 
standards  to  such  an  extent  that  they  have 
clearly  separated  themselves  from  the  masses. 

Although  Moslem  education  still  divides  it- 
self along  western  and  eastern  lines,  the 
methods  and  ideals  of  the  West  are  pushing 
their  way  everywhere.  Colonial  expansion  and 
commercial  exploitation,  by  the  marking  out  of 
spheres  of  influence  in  Africa,  as  well  as  in  the 
Mohammedan  lands  of  Asia,  the  building  of 
railways,  the  growing  influence  of  the  Moslem 
press,  the  competition  as  well  as  the  example  of 


19^    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

mission  schools — all  these  tend  to  accelerate 
this  movement  for  higher  education. 

A  new  type  of  leaders  has  appeared  in  all 
Moslem  lands  from  Morocco  to  Java.  They 
are  the  scouts  in  advance,  whom  the  bulk  of  the 
community  will  follow  with  more  or  less  hesi- 
tation in  the  future.  They  are  formulating 
public  opinion,  advocating  reforms,  and  preach- 
ing the  power  and  possibility  of  a  revived  Islam. 
It  is  our  purpose  to  show  what  is  the  present 
attitude  of  these  Moslem  leaders  toward  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Scriptures.  This 
will  necessarily  involve  also  their  attitude  to- 
ward Christianity  and  the  work  for  Moslems. 

First  of  all,  we  must  note  that  the  educated 
Moslem  of  today  has  supreme  confidence  in 
himself,  and  therefore  pride  in  his  religion  and 
hope,  in  spite  of  all  political  disasters  or  racial 
and  social  disadvantages,  that  Islam  will  yet 
triumph. 

Mr.  S.  Khuda  Bukhsh,  in  his  remarkable 
**  Essays  Indian  and  Islamic, '*  recently  pub- 
lished, says :  *  ^  Islam  possesses  an  inherent  force 
and  vitality  which  nothing  can  weaken  or  de- 
stroy. It  carries  within  it  germs  of  progress 
and  development,  and  has  great  powers  of 
adaptability  to  changing  circumstances.  There 
is  nothing  in  its  teaching  which  conflicts  with 
or  militates  against  modern  civilization,  and 
the  moment  Moslems  realize  the  truth,  their 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  19S 

future  will  be  assured  and  their  greatness  only 
a  question  of  time.  Modern  Islam,  with  its 
hierarchy  of  priesthood,  gross  fanaticism,  ap- 
palling ignorance,  and  superstitious  practices, 
is,  indeed,  a  discredit  to  the  Islam  of  the 
Prophet  Mohammed.  Instead  of  unity,  we  have 
Islam  torn  into  factions ;  instead  of  culture  we 
have  indifference  to  learning ;  instead  of  liberal 
minded  toleration  we  have  gross  bigotry.  But 
this  intellectual  darkness  must  necessarily  be 
followed  by  intellectual  dawn,  and  we  trust  that 
it  is  not  now  far  distant  or  too  long  in  coming. ' '  ^ 
No  missionary  has  ever  written  more  frankly 
concerning  the  ignorance,  superstition,  degra- 
dation, and  social  evils  of  the  Moslem 
world  than  has  Mr.  Khuda  Bukhsh  in  these 
essays. 

*^Look  at  the  state  of  affairs  a  little  deeper," 
he  writes.  *^What  must  we  say  of  a  society 
which  transforms  licentiousness  into  elegant 
frailty,  and  treachery  and  falsehood  into  par- 
donable finesse?  Should  we  not  combat,  with 
all  our  might,  these  social  evils  which  are  sap- 
ping the  very  life  and  vitality  out  of  our  com- 
munity? Are  these  not  problems  calling  for 
attention  and  solution?  I  am  drawing  up  (I 
am  only  too  keenly  aware  of  it)  a  severe  indict- 
ment against  my  own  community,  but  we  need 
have  no  delicacy  any  longer  if  we  are  to  proceed 

=^Pp.  23,  24. 


194    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

onward.  We  want  no  palliatives,  but  the  sur- 
geon's knife  to  cut  the  cancer — the  social  can- 
cer— away. ' '  ^ 

And  all  these  evils  which  he  mentions,  he 
tells  us  are  the  direct,  or  indirect  outcome  of 
**our  defective  family  life,  where  liberty  is  in- 
distinguishable from  licence,  and  healthy  vigil- 
ance from  meaningless  conventionalism. ' '  Mos- 
lem children,  he  tells  us,  are  brought  up  in  **a 
poisonous  atmosphere.''  ^* Polygamy  is  de- 
structive alike  of  domestic  peace  and  social 
purity."  In  India  the  state  of  Islam  is  so 
sad  that  the  Hindu  excels  the  Mohammedan  *4n 
thrift  and  self-control,  in  capacity  for  work,  in 
family  devotion,  in  temperance  and  in  sacrifice 
for  education." 

His  conclusion  is  that  among  Moslems  *^  Re- 
ligion has  now  become  a  solemn  farce  stripped 
of  spiritual  truth  and  steeped  in  barren  tradi- 
tion and  practice,"  and  that  *Hhe  very  founda- 
tions of  our  belief  and  conduct  need  to  be  re- 
constructed. ' ' 

We  have  quoted  at  length  from  this  writer 
because  he  is  not  alone.  The  Moslem  press  in 
Calcutta,  Teheran,  Cairo,  Bagdad,  Constanti- 
nople, and  Algiers  has  given  similar  testimony. 
Kasim  Amin  Bey  in  his  plea  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  womanhood  of  Egypt  was  followed 
by  Mansour  Fahmy  in  his  recent  book  on  the 

»  Pp.  215,  216,  228,  235,  etc. 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  195 

condition  of  women  in  Islam/  Both  of  them  are 
leaders  in  social  reform.  Gasprinsky  is  at- 
tempting from  Eussia  to  reform  Moslem  edu- 
cation in  India  and  in  Persia. 

The  backward  state  of  the  Moslem  world  and 
its  present  degradation  is  to  the  educated  Mos- 
lem a  cause  of  sorrow  and  a  source  of  constant 
pain.  Abdul  Karim  Moondji,  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  Singapore,  wrote  to  the  Spectator  (May 
2,  1914)  as  follows : 

*' .  .  .If  Moslems  choose  to  confine  themselves  only 
to  lip  profession  of  their  religion,  with  resulting  dis- 
integration, decadence,  and  stagnancy,  the  fault  as 
well  as  the  blame  is  theirs,  and  should  by  no  means 
be  cast  upon  their  faith.  If  Islam  as  practised  by 
Moslems  does  indeed  seem  hidebound,  deficient  in 
progress,  this  characteristic  is  one  that  has  been  as- 
sumed and  adopted,  not  inherent  in,  nor  native  to  it. 
Except  in  India,  Islam  has  not  yet  come  into  touch 
with  Protestantism,  with  its  attendant  freedom  from 
dogmatic  trammels.  Its  antagonists  and  neighbours 
have  been  either  the  Roman  Catholic  form  of  worship 
or  the  Greek  one,  and  the  evils  in  Islam  are  but  the 
evils  in  these  two  other  faiths  which  it  has  assimilated 
and  absorbed.  ...  To  assert  that  the  religion  of  the 
Koran  is  inelastic,  adverse  to  progress,  would  be  to 
deny,  to  shut  one's  eyes  voluntarily  to  the  state  of 
Islam  during  its  first  infancy  and  adolescence.  To 
what  was  due  the  past  greatness  of  Islam  but  to  the 

* "  La  condition  de  la  Femme  dans  la  tradition  et  revolution 
de  rislamique."    Paris,  1914. 


196    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

progressive,  reformative,  and  assimilative  spirit  that 
distinguished  that  religion?  You,  sir,  and  such  as 
you,  should  least  of  all  other  men  be  prone  to  lend 
your  pen  to  the  stock  objections  to  Islam  that  form 
the  windy  paraphernalia  of  narrow-minded  Christian 
clergymen,  fortified  by  their  fanatic  folly.*' 


We  may  well  sympathize  with  the  educated 
Moslem  of  today.  The  impact  of  the  West 
through  trade,  governments,  and  education,  has 
utterly  changed  all  social  standards,  practices, 
and  ideals.  The  old  Islam  is  disintegrating: 
No  one  can  arrest  the  process. 

The  new  Islam  is  anxious  to  incorporate  all 
the  progress  and  ideals  of  western  civilization 
by  a  reinterpretation  of  the  Koran.  Some 
even  attempt  to  prove  that  Islam  was  not  propa- 
gated by  the  sword,  that  slavery  was  only  a 
temporary  institution,  and  that  polygamy  was 
not  permitted  by  the  Prophet  Mohanuned, — 
in  fact,  that  he  himself  was  not  really  a  polyg- 
amist.  These  feats  of  exegesis  would  be  ridic- 
ulous if  they  were  not  pathetic.  All  educated 
Moslems  are  abandoning  the  traditions  and  tak- 
ing refuge  in  the  Koran  for  a  final  stand  against 
Christianity,  if  it  be  possible.  The  character 
of  the  Prophet  is  becoming  a  stumbling  block  to 
all  earnest  thinkers,  and  there  are  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Mohammedans  whose  social  and 
moral  ideals  are  higher  than  those  of  Moham- 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  197 

med  himself.  Could  there  be  a  stronger  call 
than  this  for  us  to  present  to  them  the  reality 
of  the  living  Christ,  who  is  at  once  the  ideal  of 
character  and  its  creator;  its  author  and  its 
finisher? 

Popular  education,  both  under  government 
supervision  and  through  the  effort  and  example 
of  Christian  missions,  as  well  as  the  enormous 
influence  of  the  Moslem  press,  is  spreading  these 
new  ideas  everywhere.  A  missionary  in  Java 
writes : 

"What  the  future  of  the  movement  toward  popular 
government  will  be,  no  one  can  say,  but  it  is  certain 
that  within  the  past  year  greater  changes  have  come 
into  the  minds  of  the  Javanese  than  in  the  past 
twenty-five  years.  We  stand  before  a  new  epoch. 
Will  it  be  favourable  for  the  spread  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ?  It  is  a  call  to  persevering  prayer 
that  Java  in  its  present  awakening  may  not  only 
desire  education  and  true  nationalism,  but  also  that 
salvation  which  is  only  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. ' ' 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  social  reform, 
policy,  education  and  all  the  ideals  of  democ- 
racy, educated  Moslems  are  our  allies  and  not 
our  enemies.  They  are  as  anxious  as  are  the 
missionaries  for  the  uplifting  and  enlighten- 
ment of  the  masses.  Although  their  efforts  are 
spasmodic,  they  are  not  unconscious  of  the  need 
for  this  uplifting  and  enlightenment.    Most  of 


198    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

them  are  ardent  admirers  of  much  that  they  con- 
sider the  best  in  western  civilization.  But, 
alas!  too  few  of  their  number  are  ready  for  a 
life  of  self-denying  service  to  help  others  reach 
the  goal  that  they  admire. 

The  nationalist  journal  AsJi-Sha'ah  recently 
had  a  series  of  articles  by  the  President  of  the 
Mohammedan  Association  for  the  Eevival  of 
Islam  in  Egypt.  His  contention  v/as  that  the 
Koran  contained  all  the  principles  of  modern 
civilization  and  progress;  that  modern  science 
has  borrowed  much  from  the  Koran,  and  that  in 
this  book  we  have  foretold  modern  discoveries 
in  embryology,  natural  history,  and  sociology! 

But  the  fundamental  question  always  re- 
mains. It  is  the  crux  of  the  Moslem  problem. 
Not  what  they  think  of  western  civilization  or 
of  its  representatives,  but  what  they  think  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  how  they  regard  the  Bible  and 
Christianity.  In  presenting  the  subject  we 
quote  at  length  from  the  Moslem  press  and  from 
recent  books  by  educated  Moslems,  mindful  of 
the  words  spoken  to  Gideon :  * '  Thou  shalt  hear 
what  they  say,  and  afterward  shall  thine  hands 
be  strengthened  to  go  down  into  the  host.'' 

Educated  Moslems  are  fully  aware  of  the 
impending  conflict  between  Christianity  and 
Islam  and  of  the  issues  at  stake.  In  speaking 
of  the  results  of  missionary  preaching,  under 
the  heading  of  ^' Islam  and  Its  Enemies/'  the 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  199 

Cairo  newspaper  Ash-Sha^ab  wrote:  **A  proof 
of  the  extent  of  preaching  in  mission  schools  is 
the  fact  that  you  cannot  find  two  Moslem  chil- 
dren one  of  whom  is  taught  in  a  Moslem  school 
and  the  other  in  a  Christian  school,  but  you  see 
them  quarrelling  in  the  street  on  such  a  question 
as  this:  Who  is  the  greatest,  the  Messiah  or 
Mohammed?  and  very  probably  both  of  them 
are  the  sons  of  one  pious  Moslem.  The  other 
day  while  I  was  reclining  in  my  house  I  heard 
a  quarrel  in  the  street  between  a  boy  and  a 
girl.  A  negro  servant  was  helping  the  boy  in 
his  argument.  The  boy  was  crying,  *  Christ  is 
not  greater  than  Mohammed';  but  the  girl  re- 
plied, '  Teacher  told  us  that  Christ  was  greater 
than  Mohammed  and  than  all  other  creatures, 
for  He  saved  men  from  their  sins. '  When  they 
came  to  me  I  made  clear  to  the  girl  that  her 
brother  was  in  the  right  and  she  in  the 
wrong.''  .  ,  . 

There  are  some  who  hope  for  compromise  and 
reconciliation.  Presiding  at  a  lecture  on  The 
Gospel  of  Islam,  delivered  in  London  by  Zari 
Sarfaraz  Hussein  of  Delhi,  the  Hon.  Syed  Amir 
Ali  said  that  for  more  than  forty  years  he  had 
been  trying  to  bring  about  an  understanding 
between  Christianity  and  Islam,  and  he  be- 
lieved that  to  some  extent  he  had  removed  the 
false  impressions  in  the  West  regarding  the 
latter  religion.    He  saw  no  reason  why  Chris- 


200    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

tianity  and  Islam  should  not  work  together  in 
the  elevation  of  the  human  world;  they  wor- 
shipped the  same  God,  had  the  same  traditions 
and  ideals,  and  did  not  differ  in  their  moral 
standards.^ 

The  majority  of  educated  Moslems,  however, 
know  their  own  religion  better,  and  know  at 
least  the  fundamental  teachings  of  Christianity ; 
they,  therefore,  have  little  sympathy  with  ef- 
forts at  compromise.  The  Review  of  Religions 
put  the  issue  clearly  in  stating  that  **  Islam  and 
Christianity  lie  at  the  parting  of  the  ways, 
Islam  being  the  very  antithesis  of  Christian- 
ity;" and  deprecates  the  fact  that  ^^here  and 
there  attempts  are  being  made  in  India  to 
show  that  the  Holy  Koran  supports  the  alleged 
claims  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  Godhood." 
*  *  Chapters  and  verses  are  quoted  from  Moslem 
books  by  some  of  the  misguided  and  ignorant 
Christian  missionaries  to  show  that  Islam  rep- 
resents Jesus  as  the  highest  embodiment  of 
human  excellence.  Some  of  them  even  go  to 
the  length  of  declaring  that  the  Holy  Koran 
lends  itself  to  the  deifying  of  Jesus.  The 
Christian  missionaries  have  been  misled  by  the 
Mohammedan  reverence  for  Jesus  into  the  no- 
tion that  Islam  represents  Jesus  as  a  being  su- 
perior to  the  rest  of  mankind.  It  is  true  that 
they  have  been  regarding  him  as  one  of  the 

*  As  reported  in  the  daily  press  and  Ths  Near  East, 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  £01 

prophets  of  God  who  come  at  times  to  regen- 
erate the  world,  and  who  in  that  capacity  de- 
serve our  utmost  reverence.  But  to  expect  from 
the  Moslems  anything  more  than  this  would  be 
to  ignore  their  feelings  and  sentiments  alto- 
gether." **0f  course,"  in  an  editorial.  The 
Comrade  of  Calcutta  said,  **  there  is  no  neu- 
trality between  the  two,  at  least  not  be- 
tween the  Unity  of  Islam  and  the  Trinity 
of  the  Nicene  Creed.  No  Mussulman  could 
indeed  wish  for  neutrality.  One  or  other 
must  conquer,  and  the  Mussulman  is  sure 
in  his  mind  which  it  is  going  to  be. ' '  The  more 
Moslems  become  acquainted  with  Christianity, 
the  more  they  read  the  New  Testament,  the 
more  they  will  see  that  the  issues  between  the 
Cross  and  the  Crescent  are  clearly  drawn,  and 
are  too  deep  and  vital  both  in  the  realm  of  truth 
and  of  ethics  ever  to  admit  of  compromise. 

We  may,  therefore,  expect  that  the  enormous 
increase  in  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in 
all  Moslem  lands  in  recent  years  will  inevitably 
lead  to  keener  opposition  and  produce  hostility, 
as  well  as  remove  prejudice.  Jesus  Christ  is 
always  set  *'for  the  falling  and  rising  of  many" 
and  for  *  ^  a  sign  which  is  spoken  against. ' ' 

But  there  is  a  willingness,  rather  an  eager- 
ness, to  investigate  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  place  in  history  such  as  there  never 
was    before.      The    Moslems    themselves    are 


202    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

choosing  the  Bible  as  their  battleground.  For 
obvious  reasons  all  educated  Moslems  have 
abandoned  their  defence  of  the  Traditions,  or 
are  trying  hard  to  sift  them  or  shift  them  to 
suit  their  purpose.  They  even  prefer  at  present 
to  attack  the  Scriptures  or  re-interpret  them 
in  favour  of  Islam  rather  than  make  any  appeal 
to  the  Koran  as  the  very  word  of  Allah.  This 
is  a  new  phase  in  the  present  situation  and  one 
full  of  promise.  The  Word  of  God  is  living  and 
powerful;  it  is  a  two-edged  sword,  and  those 
who  attempt  to  wrest  it  from  Christian  hands 
will  only  wound  themselves. 

Two  Moslem  tracts  widely  circulated  in  Cairo 
this  past  year  are  entitled  If  Ye  Love  Me  Keep 
My  Commandments,  and  A  True  Statement  of 
the  Love  of  Christ.  Both  are  bitterly  anti- 
Christian  and  contain  blasphemous  statements, 
but  while  they  have  no  reference  to  the  Koran 
or  quotations  from  it,  they  are  full  of  Bible 
proof-texts.  The  latter  closes  with  the  entire 
beautiful  parable  of  the  house  built  on  the  rock 
(Matthew  7:  24-27),  while  on  the  title  page  are 
the  words:  ** Jesus  the  Nazarene,  who  was  a 
prophet  mighty  in  deed  and  word  before  God 
and  all  the  people.  *'  Whatever  may  be  the  other 
effects  of  this  kind  of  polemic,  it  undoubtedly 
stimulates  the  searching  of  the  Scriptures  and 
rivets  attention  on  Jesus  Christ. 

Two  years  ago  the  leading  Moslem  paper  pub- 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  206 

lished  at  Bagdad  had  a  long  article  on  the  in- 
justice of  Italy's  invasion  of  Tripoli,  and  the 
main  argument  was  based  on  all  the  prophecies 
of  Messianic  peace  found  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  command  of  Jesus  to  love  our  enemies. 
Only  a  short  time  ago  a  tramway  conductor  in 
Alexandria,  to  whom  I  gave  a  Christian  leaflet, 
returned  the  favour  by  handing  me  a  small 
poster  entitled  The  Gospel  Witness  to  the 
Prophetship  of  Mohammed, — most  of  it  a  clever 
perversion  of  Scripture  texts,  especially  from 
the  sixteenth  chapter  of  John's  Gospel,  refer- 
ring to  the  promise  of  the  Paraclete. 

While  on  the  one  hand  there  is  this  free  and 
utterly  uncritical  use  of  the  Bible,  educated 
Moslems,  on  the  other  hand,  are  eager  to  prove 
by  modern  western  authorities  that  their  old 
contention  that  the  text  was  corrupted  is  sup- 
ported by  Christians  themselves.  Mr.  Halil 
Halid,  a  licentiate  of  the  Institute  of  Law  at 
Constantinople,  says  in  his  book  ^  *  The  Crescent 
versus  the  Cross''  (pp.  12,  13):  **A  study  of 
the  historical  investigations  made  by  the  un- 
biased critics  of  Christendom  will  strengthen 
rather  than  weaken  the  old  notion  of  Mussel- 
men  as  to  the  origin  of  the  existing  Holy  Book 
of  the  Christians.  ...  It  certainly  should  not 
be  offered  to  the  world  as  the  gospel  of  a  true 
religion. ' ' 

The  infamous  Arabic  book  of  Mohammed 


204f    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Tahir-ut-Tanir  of  Beirut  on  **The  Pagan  Ele- 
ments in  the  Christian  Eeligion, ' '  ^  and  the  far 
more  able  work  by  Mohammed  Tewfik  Sidki  of 
Cairo  entitled  ^*En  Nazra''  are  both  intended 
to  show  that  the  foundations  of  the  Christian 
religion  are  not  only  unhistorical  but  mythical. 
They  refer  to  and  quote  from  a  number  of  west- 
ern writers,  some  of  whom  are  without  author- 
ity and  others  are  agnostic  or  atheistic. 

The  whole  object  in  view  in  these  replies  or 
counter-attacks  always  seems  to  be,  not  to 
search  for  truth  nor  to  use  the  method  of  scien- 
tific or  even  of  destructive  criticism,  but  to  find 
an  apology  for  Islam  at  any  cost.  Otherwise, 
how,  for  example,  could  a  Cambridge  graduate 
write:  ^^ Islam  also  holds  different  views  on  the 
death  of  Christ ;  whether  historically  correct  or 
not,  it  does  not  admit  the  possibility  of  the 
Crucifixion  ...  it  cannot  reconcile  His  lofty 
position  with  the  alleged  form  of  His  death,  a 
form  which  to  the  Moslem  mind  only  befits 
criminals. ' '  ^ 

We  might  say  that  this  changed  attitude  to- 
ward the  Scriptures  is  from  that  of  a  proud  in- 
difference and  a  fanatic  ignorance  of  their  con- 
tents to  an  eager  desire  to  investigate  and 
refute  the  Bible  if  in  any  way  possible,  or  at 


*  Of  the  articles  by  the  Rev.  W.  St.  Clair  Tisdall,  D.D.,  in 
The  Moslem  World  (October,  1913,  and  July,  1914.) 
'"The  Crescent  versus  the  Cross,"  p.  17. 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  205 

least  to  use  it  as  a  new  weapon  of  defence  for 
Islam  and  of  attack  on  Christianity.  This  ap- 
parently impossible  position  is  the  only  logical 
one  if  the  Moslem  would  remain  a  Moslem.  The 
educated  Moslem  faces  two  grave  difficulties  in 
his  comparative  study  of  religion;  the  char- 
acter of  Mohammed  according  to  Moslem  writ- 
ers, and  the  witness  of  the  Koran  to  the  in- 
tegrity and  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  He  is 
compelled  by  his  religion,  therefore,  to  believe 
that,  which  if  logically  followed  out  to  its  con- 
clusion, will  undermine  the  foundation  of  his 
belief. 

The  Comrade  of  Calcutta  (May  30,  1914> 
frankly  admitted  this  difficulty : '  *  The  Christian 
theologian  can  denounce  the  Koran  as  a  fabri- 
cation and  a  fraud,  but  the  Mussulman,  although 
he  may  allege  interpolations  in  the  Biblical  text, 
is  prevented  by  his  own  religious  belief  from 
denying  the  divine  origin  of  the  Christian 
Scriptures.  Similarly,  a  Christian  may  call  the 
Prophet  of  Islam  an  impostor  and  an  evil  per- 
son; but  a  Mussulman's  religion  imposes  upon 
him  respect  for  the  personality  and  character  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  messenger  of  God." 

We  shall  see  later  how  this  difficulty  regard- 
ing the  character  of  the  Prophet  and  that  of  the 
Christ  has  given  rise  to  new  and  startling  at- 
tacks on  the  sinlessness  of  Jesus. 

This  witness  of  the  Koran  to  the  Scriptures, 


206    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

the  colporteur  with  his  insistent  presentation  of 
the  printed  Gospel,  the  daily  Bible  teaching  in 
thousands  of  mission  schools,  and  not  least,  the 
place  this  Book  occupies  in  western  literature 
and  thought,  all  join  to  compel  the  educated 
Moslem  to  become  a  Bible  student. 

He  is  also  driven  to  study  the  present  re- 
ligious condition  of  the  Christian  world  and  to 
compare  it  favourably  or  unfavourably  with 
that  of  the  world  of  Islam,  often  appealing  to 
the  Bible  as  the  standard  of  his  new  ethics  to 
condemn  the  worst  side  of  western  civilization. 
His  horizon  is  world-wide.  With  the  sensitive- 
ness and  the  rapidity  (sometimes  without  the 
accuracy)  of  a  seismograph,  the  Moslem  press 
in  Constantinople  and  Cairo,  in  Algiers  and 
Calcutta,  records  every  event  even  at  the  antip- 
odes that  concerns  Islam,  however  remotely. 

The  World  Missionary  Conference  at  Edin- 
burgh was  reported  at  length  in  the  leading 
Moslem  daily  paper  in  Cairo.  Translations  of 
missionary  literature  published  in  New  York 
appear  in  the  Lahore  daily  papers.  Nothing 
that  happens  in  Europe  and  which  seems  to  re- 
flect on  Christian  civilization  escapes  the  Mos- 
lem press.  The  feminist  movement,  the  suffra- 
gette extravagance,  a  diplomatic  disclosure,  a 
speech  of  the  German  Emperor,  American  di- 
vorce scandals,  the  social  evils  of  Paris  or  of 
Liverpool, — all  are  served  up  to  Moslem  readers 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  207 

with  the  moral:  such  is  Christianity  and  such 
is  the  programme  of  Christian  Europe. 

The  information  given  is  often  inaccurate  or 
even  grotesque  in  its  character.  The  paper 
called  Al  Afkar,  for  example,  had  a  long  article 
(Cairo,  March  22,  1914)  by  a  Persian  Moslem 
on  the  subject  **The  Impact  of  the  Missionaries 
upon  the  Moslem  World, ' '  in  which  he  gave  an 
exaggerated  account  of  the  strength  of  Prot- 
estant Missions,  quoting  from  a  French  period- 
ical that  the  Protestants  spend  unheard  of  sums 
of  gold  in  the  spread  of  the  Gospel;  from 
Canada  and  America  a  total  of  two  and  a  half 
million  pounds  yearly,  exclusive  of  what  comes 
from  England  and  Australia.  He  estimates  the 
total  spent  by  Protestant  missions  at  thirteen 
million  pounds  and  the  total  number  of  mis- 
sionaries, European  and  native,  at  five  and  a 
half  million  1  Of  these  **  ninety-three  thousand 
men  and  women  are  specially  set  apart  to  en- 
gage in  the  distribution  of  the  Bible. ' ' 

The  conference  at  Kikuyu  held  almost  as 
large  a  place  in  the  Moslem  press  as  it  did  in 
England.  Long  articles  indicated  how  edu- 
cated Moslems  saw  good  or  ill  for  Islam  in  this 
attempted  Christian  Union.  One  paper  re- 
marked: **The  pious  fraud  engineered  in  the 
Protestant  conference  at  Kikuyu  is  too  glaring 
to  hoodwink  even  a  superficial  eye.  The  Prot- 
estant sects  are  notoriously  divided  from  each 


208    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

other  by  differences  of  belief  of  the  most  funda- 
mental character.  Do  all  Protestants  even  be- 
lieve in  the  Trinity?  Many  of  them  are  Uni- 
tarians— almost  like  non-Christian  religions. 
Do  they  believe  in  one  common  baptism?  Some 
hold  that  baptism  is  only  harmless  water :  some 
that  it  removes  all  sins:  some  that  it  should 
be  given  to  children:  some  that  it  must  be 
reserved  for  people  of  full  age.  Do  all  of 
them  believe  in  the  Communion  of  saints? 
Many  of  them  believe  it  in  all  sorts  of 
different  meanings.  Some  hold  that  Christians 
on  earth  can  pray  to  Christians  who  are  dead 
on  behalf  of  other  Christians  expired.  Others 
deny  this  and  believe  that  no  one  here  or  here- 
after can  know  or  do  anything  whatsoever  with 
one  another.  Do  they  believe  in  the  *one  Cath- 
olic Church'  which  they  pretended  at  Kikuyu 
to  be  a  universal  article  of  their  *  unity  of 
faith?'  On  the  other  hand,  very  few  of  them 
believe  in  one  Catholic  Church  of  any  kind  what- 
soever. Do  they  believe  in  the  remission  of 
sins  ?  Most  of  them  do  not :  and  those  who  say 
they  do  have  most  different  ideas  on  the  sub- 
ject. Must  a  Protestant  priest  or  bishop  be 
consecrated  in  regular  succession  by  previous 
bishops?  Can  any  layman  without  any  con- 
secration by  bishops  become  a  priest  or  minister 
and  teach  out  of  the  sacred  Scriptures?  On 
these  points,  too,  there  is  nothing  but  contradic- 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  209 

tion  among  the  Protestant  denominations  rep- 
resented at  Kikuyn.  ^ '  All  of  which  shows  that 
Christianity  is  not  only  under  fire,  but  that 
Moslems  are  fully  aware  that  our  lack  of  unity 
is  a  real  lack  of  strength. 

The  criticism  of  missions  by  the  Moslem  press 
does  not  prevent  an  increasing  imitation  of 
modern  missionary  methods  in  the  defence  and 
spread  of  Islam.  Moslem  societies  are  being 
formed  throughout  India  and  Egypt  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  checking  the  influence  of 
missions,  preventing  attendance  at  Christian 
meetings  and  persuading  converts  to  return  to 
Islam.  I  have  before  me  the  constitution  and 
by-laws  of  one  such  society  founded  last  year, 
with  headquarters  in  Alexandria.  It  has  offi- 
cers, committees,  branches,  two  kinds  of  mem- 
bership (honorary  and  active,  by  the  payment 
of  at  least  a  shilling  monthly)  and  an  ambitious 
programme.  The  recent  efforts  of  Khwaja 
Kamal-ud-Din  and  his  supporters  in  Woking, 
England,  *^to  spread  Islam  in  Europe,  or  at 
least  refute  the  baseless  charges  brought  against 
Islam, ' '  are  generally  known  through  his  publi- 
cations. What  is  not  so  well  known  is  that 
women's  missionary  societies  are  being  formed 
in  India  to  finance  the  scheme.^ 

We  turn  now  to  the  heart  of  the  problem. 
What  is  the  present  attitude  of  educated  Mos- 

*  The  Comrade,  May  9,  1914,  p.  377. 


210    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

lems  toward  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and  Sav- 
iour! It  is  twofold.  On  the  one  hand,  al- 
though this  attitude  is  utterly  opposed  to  the 
spirit  and  teaching  of  the  Koran  itself,  there 
are  bitter  and  blasphemous  attacks  on  the 
supernatural  character  of  Jesus  and  His  sin- 
lessness.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  unex- 
pected and  outspoken  testimony  to  His  moral 
greatness  and  the  effect  of  His  teaching  and  life 
in  transforming  character. 

Syed  Mohammed  Rashid  Risha,  the  editor  of 
Al-Manar,  Mohammed  Tewfik  Sidki,  both  of 
Cairo,  Mohammed  Tahir-ut-Tanir  of  Beirut,  a 
certain  section  of  the  press  in  India,  and  the 
authors  of  some  of  the  pamphlets  published  by 
the  Mohammedan  Tract  and  Book  Depot  at 
Lahore  are  the  leading  exponents  of  the  new 
hostile  polemic.  Much  of  what  has  appeared  in 
print,  both  in  English  and  Arabic,  in  India  and 
in  Egypt,  is  of  such  a  degrading  character  and 
so  utterly  unworthy  of  educated  or  honest 
Moslems  that  we  are  not  surprised  that  when  it 
was  published  in  Cairo  the  editor  of  Al-Manar 
was  constrained  to  publish  an  apology  after  the 
offence;  and  in  India,  it  was  described  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  as  **  wantonly  scurrilous  and 
offensive.''  Two  of  the  Indian  newspapers  in 
question,  Ahl-i-Hadith  and  Badr,  were  dealt 
with  under  the  Press  Act  in  June,  1914,  for  pub- 
lishing their  blasphemous  articles  on  the  birth  of 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  211 

the  Messiah.  The  latter  paper  quoted  from 
another  Moslem  sheet  An-Najm,  a  long  pseudo- 
scientific  account  of  the  alleged  naturalness  of 
the  virgin  birth  on  the  absurd  theory  (which 
was  fortified  by  a  Koran  text)  that  Mary  was  ' 
**a  true  hermaphrodite.'*  The  Comrade  re- 
printed the  greater  part  of  this  offensive  article 
(June  6,  1914)  and  expressed  surprise  at  the 
opinion  of  Sir  Michael  O'Dwyer  that  ^4t  was 
wantonly  scurrilous  and  calculated  to  bring 
into  contempt  the  Christian  population  of  the 
Province.''  Eef erring  to  the  other  paper, 
AJil-i-Hadith,  The  Comrade  goes  on  to  prove 
that  Moslem  writers  can  say  what  they  please 
regarding  the  character  of  Jesus  provided  they 
use  as  the  object  of  their  accusations  and  blas- 
phemies *^the  Jesus  of  the  Gospel"  and  not 
''the  'Isa  of  the  Koran."  Here  is  the  argument 
presented : 

''Let  us  now  see  whether  the  writer  in  the  AM-i- 
HaditJi  has  done  anything  more  reprehensible  in  deal- 
ing with  Christ's  sinfulness  or  sinlessness  according 
to  the  law.  Once  more  we  must  hear  in  mind  that  the 
writer  is  not  dealing  with  Jesus  as  the  Mussulmen 
know  and  venerate,  but  with  Hhe  Jesus  of  the  Gos- 
pel.' What  he  does  is  to  quote  texts  from  the  Gos- 
pels and,  whether  one  agrees  with  his  interpretation  or 
not,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  texts  can  be  inter- 
preted in  a  manner  which  do  not  do  justice  to  so  great 
and  holy  a  personality.    The  well-known  text  in  Mat- 


212    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

thew,  *I  come  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword/  etc., 
can  easily  bear  an  interpretation  wholly  different 
from  that  which  Christians  accept,  and  we  have  no 
doubt  that  if  an  Indian  patriot  used  such  expressions 
today  the  police  would  have  something  to  say  to  him ; 
and  the  authorities  of  our  colleges  would  certainly 
hold  up  the  man  who  boasted  that  he  had  come  *to 
set  a  man  against  his  father'  to  public  opprobrium, 
in  the  interests  of  discipline.  Take  Christ's  abuse  of 
the  Pharisees  and  Scribes  as  *an  evil  and  adulterous 
generation'  and  a  *  generation  of  vipers.'  We  know 
what  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes  were  like  in  the  days 
of  Christ,  but  have  we  no  Pharisees  and  Scribes  among 
us  who  can  count  on  the  support  of  officialdom  when 
*  young  hot-heads  '  call  them  by  names  not  half  as 
abusive?  Again,  Christ  accused  the  Prophets  who 
preceded  him  of  being  Hhieves  and  robbers.'  " 


The  writer  quotes  other  passages  and  offers 
a  running  criticism  of  unequal  merit,  and  finally 
cites  Matthew  19 :  17 :  *' And  he  said,  *  Why  call- 
est  thou  me  good?  There  is  none  good  but  One 
— that  is  God.'  So  much  for  *  Jesus  of  the 
Gospel.'  But  what  of  Jesus  as  the  writer  be- 
lieves him  to  be?  Does  he  consider  him  to  be 
a  disturber  of  peace  and  a  man  given  to  abuse 
of  others,  an  ungrateful  son  or  a  brother  with- 
out affection,  the  author  of  vain  prophecies  and 
a  teacher  of  dissembling,  fond  of  loving  women 
who  were  not  related  to  him,  and  of  wine  drink- 
ing as,  according  to  him,  the  texts  cited  by  him 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  «13 

suggest?''  Let  us  give  the  reply  in  his  own 
words.  He  concludes  the  peccant  article  with 
the  following:  '*  In  short,  according  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  Jesus 
was  sinful  by  origin  and  according  to  law.  If 
He  was  sinful  He  cannot  atone  for  the  sins  of 
others,  according  to  the  Christian  teachings. 
So  Jesu^  can  in  no  way  carry  away  the  sins 
of  all  Christians.  Christian  friends,  give  up 
this  unbecoming  and  fanciful  idea  of  Atone- 
ment and  believe  in  the  Holy  Book  which  in  a 
few  but  portentous  words  calls  Jesus  *  Son  of 
Mary,  illustrious  in  this  world  and  the  world  to 
come!  '  "  .  .  . 

Another  writer  of  this  polemic  school  informs 
Uo  that  Jesus  died  young  and  was  crucified  be- 
cause he  was  rude  to  the  **  mother  who  kept 
awake  for  nights  that  He  might  sleep,  who  many 
a  time  went  without  meals  that  He  might  eat, 
and  bore  trouble  that  He  might  rest  in  comfort. 
Does  not  the  Bible  say,  *  Honour  thy  father  and 
mother  that  thy  days  may  be  long,'  and  does 
not  Matthew  tell  us  that  Jesus  said  unto  her, 
*  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  you?'  " 

Regarding  the  present  attitude  of  Moslems 
in  Bengal  the  Rev.  William  Goldsack  writes 
that  a  booklet  published  there,  *4s  a  blas- 
phemous attack  on  the  character  and  person  of 
our  Blessed  Lord,  and  reveals  in  the  author,  a 
callous  disregard  for  the  very  decencies  of  re- 


gl4    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

ligious  controversy.  The  usual  objections  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ's  sinlessness  are  raised, 
such  as  His  inherited  sinfulness  from  Adam/ 
His  *  abuse'  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
His  *  disrespect'  shown  to  His  mother,  His 
*  habitual  use  of  wine,'  His  'wanton  de- 
struction of  the  property  (i.e.,  the  swine)  of 
some  poor  people,'  His  petulant  'want  of  self- 
control'  as  shown  in  the  destruction  of  the  fig- 
tree,  etc.  The  author  closes  his  venomous  at- 
tack with  the  remark  that  he  has  hoisted  the 
Christian  Padris  with  their  own  petard,  and 
proved  from  their  own  fictitious  scriptures  that 
as  one  sinner  cannot  save  another  sinner,  so 
Jesus  'who  is  sometimes  man,  and  sometimes 
God,'  cannot  be  a  Saviour.  He  then  goes  on 
to  say  that  good  Mohammedans  believe  in  the 
sinlessness  of  all  the  Prophets,  Jesus  included. 
The  latter,  however,  was  not  the  chimerical  and 
imaginary  being  described  in  the  book  which 
Christians  have  written  and  called  the  Bible. ' ' 
"Another  Muslim  anti-Christian  publication 
at  present  being  circulated  in  Bengal  is  a  scur- 
rilous pamphlet  entitled  'The  Destroyer  of  the 
Trinity.'  This  book  is  even  more  offensive  in 
tone  than  the  one  just  described.  Its  blasphe- 
mous ridiculing  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  its 
coarse  jests  about  the  limitless  God  being  con- 
tained in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  make 
painful  reading  for  the  Christian.    Books  such 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  216 

as  we  have  been  describing  have  a  baneful  in- 
fluence upon  half-educated  people,  and  are  even 
being  used  to  try  and  unsettle  Christian  con- 
verts." 

With  still  greater  effrontery  one  of  the  pam- 
phlets published  at  Lahore  speaks  of  the  mar- 
riage at  Cana  in  Galilee  and  of  other  events 
in  Christ's  life :  **  Jesus  also  insulted  his  mother 
on  this  occasion,  and  the  apology  that  he  was 
then  under  the  influence  of  wine  cannot  excuse 
him;  for  on  another  occasion  (Matthew  12: 48) 
when,  to  all  appearances,  in  a  sober  state,  he 
behaved  even  more  rudely  toward  her.  An- 
other miracle  wrought  by  Jesus  was  that  of 
cursing  the  fig-tree.  Pinched  by  hunger  (a 
hungry  God  was  never  known  before  the  ad- 
vent of  Jesus)  he  ran  to  a  fig-tree,  but  poor, 
hunger-bitten  God!  he  did  not  know  that  *the 
time  of  figs  was  not  yet. '  Naturally  enough  he 
found  not  figs,  but  instead  of  cursing  himself, 
he  cursed  the  faultless  fig-tree.  (Mark  11: 
11-14)." 

Again,  referring  to  the  Gospel  story  of  His 
death:  **The  Jews  alone  showed  the  firmness 
of  purpose,  and,  unlike  the  second  person  of 
the  Trinity,  did  not  swerve  a  hair's  breadth 
from  the  path  which  they  had  chosen,  keeping 
to  their  ground  until  they  saw  Jesus  suspended 
on  the  cross,  that  the  eternal  decree  might  be 
fulfilled.    What  a  pity  that  God  could  not  show 


216    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

the  same  perseverance.  Having  first  auda- 
ciously put  himself  forward  to  undergo  the  pun- 
ishment that  was  destined  for  the  whole  human 
race,  he  shrank  when  he  saw  actual  danger  and 
at  last,  his  heart  failing  him,  cried  out  Eli, 
Eli,  lama  sahachthani?  and  prayed  the  Father 
to  save  him  from  death  on  the  cross. ' '  ^ 

But  the  author  of  El  'Akaid-ul-Wathaniya  fi 
diyanati-l-Messihiya  goes  to  even  greater  length 
in  his  hatred  of  the  Gospel  story  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion. So  also  did  Al-Manar  ^  in  its  recent  ar- 
ticles on  the  genealogy  of  Jesus,  His  human 
origin.  His  relations  with  John,  His  visits  to 
Bethany,  and  His  drunkenness  at  the  Last  Sup- 
per. All  these  accusations  are  based  by  edu- 
cated Moslems  on  the  record  of  the  four 
Gospels ! 

The  Islamic  Review  summed  it  up  in  these 
words :  **He  loved  women  who  were  not  related 
to  Him  in  any  way.  John  11 :  5,  20,  28,  29 :  ^Now 
Jesus  loved  Martha  and  her  sister  and  Lazarus. ' 
He  used  to  drink  wine.  Matthew  26 :  29 :  *But  I 
say  unto  you  I  will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this 
fruit  of  the  vine  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it 
new  with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom.'  And 
He  made  others  drink.    John  11 :  6-10. ' ' 

One  is  constantly  reminded,  when  compelled 
to  read  these  blasphemous  articles  by  those  who 

*Cf.    my    article    entitled    "The    Stumbling    Block    of    the 
Cross,"  in  The  Moslem  World,  April,  1913,  pp.  147-158. 
*  Vol.  XVII,  No.  3,  pp.  188  sq.,  and  No.  2,  passim. 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  217 

still  call  themselves  Moslems,  of  the  words  of 
Luke  in  the  Gospel :  '*  And  when  they  had  blind- 
folded Him,  they  struck  Him  on  the  face  and 
asked  him  saying,  Prophesy  who  it  is  that 
smote  thee."  *^ Father  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do." 

It  is  a  relief  to  turn  from  all  this  kind  of 
argument  and  bitter  opposition  to  outspoken 
testimony  in  favour  of  Christ  and  Christianity. 
This  is,  perhaps,  not  so  common,  but  it  is  even 
more  indicative  of  the  real  situation.  While 
there  are  some  ready  to  cry,  Away  with  Him, 
not  this  man  but  Mohammed,  others  are  hailing 
Christ  with  glad  hosannas  as  their  ideal  of 
character  and  the  hope  of  humanity.  In  both 
cases  educated  Moslems  are  compelled  to  face 
the  fact  of  the  Christ.  He  is  becoming  more  and 
more  the  centre  of  thought  and  discussion  in 
the  Moslem  world. 

'Ata  Bey  Hussiny,  in  a  small  volume  on  po- 
litical economy  and  the  history  of  civilization 
in  relation  to  Islam  (Cairo),  writes : 

'*The  summary  of  Jesus'  teaching  was  as  follows : 
"First,  He  taught  the  Jews,  who  were  fanatically 
inclined  against  the  Roman  Government,  the  funda- 
mental difference  between  the  Church  and  the  State ; 
secondly,  He  saw  that  their  rulers  and  chiefs  were 
corrupted  by  love  of  money,  and  therefore  taught  the 
duty  of  giving  to  the  poor  and  not  treasuring  upon 
the  earth ;  thirdly.  He  saw  that  the  poor  were  greatly 


218    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

neglected  and  despised,  so  He  naturally  turned  to 
them,  mingling  with  them  and  blessing  them,  and  so 
laying  the  foundations  of  the  community  life; 
fourthly,  He  observed  that  envy  was  rife,  and  so  He 
preached  in  its  place  the  principles  of  gentleness  and 
forgiveness,  saying  that  the  greatest  of  all  sins  was 
*to  allow  the  sun  to  set  upon  your  anger  against  your 
brother';  fifthly,  He  saw  that  there  was  no  fellowship 
in  service,  nor  compassion,  so  He  commanded  to  His 
disciples  mutual  assistance  and  service  without  pay, 
saying  to  them,  ^  Whoso  compelleth  thee  to  go  one  mile, 
go  with  him  twain/  But  the  most  remarkable  thing 
which  our  Lord  'Isa  commanded  was  universal  love. 
He  did  not  cease  to  preach  it  and  proclaim  it  so  that 
He  even  said  that  the  whole  law  and  the  prophets 
are  fulfilled  in  love ;  and  His  teaching  concerning  love 
was  so  strong  that  He  commanded  men  to  love  even 
their  enemies  and  those  that  harmed  them.  This 
surely  is  a  principle  of  life  higher  than  all  other  prin- 
ciples, for  everything  is  established  on  love;  and  in 
love  and  through  love  everything  revives,  and  by 
means  of  love  universal  benevolence  is  completed,  for 
man's  love  to  his  brother  gives  him  happiness  in  this 
world  and  hereafter.  .  .  .  All  this  the  well-balanced 
mind  accepts  and  approves  of,  but  the  question  arises. 
Is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  love  his  enemies  and  do 
good  to  those  that  hate  him?" 

So  high  are  the  ideals  of  Christ,  so  wonder- 
ful the  impression  created  by  His  personality 
and  His  teaching  that  it  startles  and  awakens 
incredulity.    We  must  incarnate  the  teaching  of 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  21^ 

our  Master  to  win  those  who  ask,  **Is  it  pos- 
sible?" Only  those  who  live  this  teaching  be- 
for  the  eyes  of  Moslems  can  answer  the  ques- 
tion put  by  this  type  of  educated  Moslem.  Not 
by  controversy  and  not  by  argument,  but  by 
the  Spirit  of  love  will  such  be  won  for  the 
Christ  whose  teaching  they  have  already  made 
their  ideal. 

Another  strong  testimony  to  the  character  of 
Christ  and  Christianity  was  given  recently  by 
the  leading  Mohammedan  jurist  in  the  Punjab, 
M.  Muhammad  Shah  Din,  before  the  Punjab 
Historical  Society.  Speaking  of  Christ's  mis- 
sion and  its  place  in  history,  he  said : 


**We  now  come  to  Christianity,  the  second  great 
historical  religion  that  at  the  present  moment  dom- 
inates the  higher  thought  of  the  world  and  wields  its 
masterful  sway  over  nations  who  are  in  the  vanguard 
of  civilization.  As  we  contemplate  the  life  of  its 
great  Founder  with  its  winning  simplicity  and  its 
many  touching  incidents  which  appeal  direct  to  the 
human  heart,  the  Master  ^s  overflowing  sympathy  for 
all  forms  of  suffering  and  distress,  the  loving  tender- 
ness with  which  He  poured  balsam  into  bleeding 
wounds,  His  heroic  revolt  against  the  dead  formalism 
of  the  prevailing  creed  and  the  selfish  hypocrisy  of 
its  priesthood,  His  unceasing  efforts  to  bring  erring 
humanity  back  to  the  paths  of  honour  and  virtue,  and 
last  of  all,  His  martyrdom  in  the  sacred  cause  of 
eternal  truth : — as  we  contemplate  these  things  we  feel 


220    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

that  we  are  face  to  face  with  a  spiritual  force  of  mar- 
vellous potency.  Can  the  historian  do  full  justice  to 
the  great  Teacher  and  His  high  mission  if  he  only 
describes  His  personal  character,  His  relations  with 
His  disciples,  His  daily  round  of  life.  His  many  acts 
of  kindness  toward,  the  poor  and  the  down-trodden, 
the  general  topics  of  His  teachings,  and  the  means  by 
which  he  sought  to  impress  and  educate  the  conscience 
of  His  people  ?  All  this  is  very  important  in  its  own 
way,  but  it  amounts  to  barely  a  tithe  of  the  solution 
of  the  problem  presented  by  the  strange  dispensation 
that  was  destined  to  revolutionize  the  world.  To  un- 
derstand Christianity  we  must  study  the  personality 
of  the  great  Hebrew  seer  in  its  relation  to  the  Jewish 
race  and  to  the  other  races  of  the  then  known  world ; 
we  must  seek  in  the  social  atrophy  and  moral  de- 
cadence of  those  races  the  need  for  the  birth  of  a  new 
ethical  movement  and  the  secret  of  the  powerful  influ- 
ence which  it  exercised  over  their  succeeding  genera- 
tions, as  a  notable  link  in  the  chain  of  the  religious 
evolution  of  mankind. ' ' 

Mr.  S.  Khuda  Bukhsh,  in  his  **  Essays  Indian 
and  Islamic,''  says  (p.  246) :  *^The  prophets  and 
reformers  have  been  and  always  will  be  men 
of  like  passions  with  us ;  with  this  all  important 
difference,  that  in  them  the  divine  spark  wag 
not  suffered  prematurely  to  die  away.  They 
felt  the  inward  message  and  determined  to 
carry  it  out.  .  .  .  Socrates  condemned  as  a  cor- 
rupter of  youth;  Jesus  crucified  as  a  setter- 
f orth  of  strange  things ;  Mohammed  persecuted 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  221 

for  his  religious  mission.  The  world,  however, 
only  sees  at  intervals  the  vision, — the  supreme 
beatific  vision  of  a  Socrates,  a  Jesus,  a  Mo- 
hammed. ' ' 

Not  only  does  this  writer  speak  of  Jesus  in 
such  high  terms,  but  he  again  and  again  quotes 
New  Testament  language  with  approval.  **Is 
it  not  religion  .  .  .  which  falls  on  dry  hearts 
like  rain  and  which  whispers  to  self-weary, 
moribund  man,  ^Thou  must  be  born  again?'  " 
**Sons  of  God,"  he  writes,  ^^have  the  wisdom  of 
this  world  as  well  as  of  the  next;  the  highest 
goal  in  life  is  *to  become  like  to  God  with  a 
pure  mind  and  to  draw  near  to  Him  and  to 
abide  in  Him.'  (pp.  261-262).''  And  again: 
*  *  The  governing  principle  of  all  religions  is  the 
same.  In  the  language  of  the  Apostle  James 
(sic),  *Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God 
and  the  Father  is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  affliction  and  to  keep  one's  self 
unspotted  from  the  world."  **This  is  the  bur- 
den of  all  religions,"  he  says,  **and  this  is  the 
burden  of  Islam."    (Pp.  20,  21.) 

How  great  the  distance  is  between  this  ideal 
Islam  and  the  reality,  we  learn  from  the  same 
book.  Who  can  read  the  severe  criticisms  of 
this  educated  Moslem  on  the  popular  doctrine 
of  Allah — more  trenchant  than  Palgrave's 
famous  characterization — and  his  plea  for' the 
idea  of  a  merciful  Father,  without  realizing  that 


^n    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

Christ 's  character  and  words  have  influenced  all 
this  new  teaching.  *'God,  as  fashioned  by  our 
co-religionists,  is  an  exact  type  of  an  Oriental 
ruler.  It  is  not  love  but  fear  that  is  more  promi- 
nently emphasized.  He  is  conceived  as  vindic- 
tive, unmerciful  .  .  .  totally  uninterested  in  the 
human  race  except  in  so  far  that  He  regards 
their  transgressions  with  morbid  asperity." 
(Pp.  276-280.) 

A  few  years  ago  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
be  at  Kerbela,  Turkish  Arabia,  and  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  a  mujtahid  who  had  died  a  martyr 
to  Moslem  fanaticism.  The  funeral  oration, 
given  in  Arabic,  was  largely  a  panegyric  in 
words  of  the  New  Testament,  especially  taken 
from  Matthew,  chapters  5-7,  and  Komans  12. 
All  the  Christian  ideals  of  virtue  were  ascribed 
to  the  deceased.  In  the  same  spirit  one  of  the 
nationalist  daily  papers  in  Cairo  translated  last 
year,  chapter  by  chapter,  Samuel  Smiles '  essays 
on  **  Character''  and  on  *  ^  Self -help ' '  for  its 
readers.  Another  Cairo  paper  recently  had  a 
signed  article  by  a  leading  Moslem  of  Shebin-el- 
Kom,  protesting  vigourously  against  the  meth- 
ods employed  by  some  Moslems  in  buying  back 
Christian  converts;  he  then  paid  a  very  high 
tribute  to  the  superior  moral  character  of  Chris- 
tians as  compared  with  Moslems.^  AH  this 
shows  how  the  old  spirit  of  fanaticism  is  dis- 

*  Miar,  May  14,  1914. 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  223 

appearing,  and  how  Moslems  of  the  better 
classes  are  proud  of  their  new  tolerance.  Many 
of  them  are  willing  to  see  fair  play  in  argu- 
ment. 

At  the  Moslem  Anglo-Oriental  Educational 
Conference  held  in  Lucknow  (December,  1912), 
there  were  many  happy  proofs  of  this  new  atti- 
tude toward  Christian  missions.  A  reception 
was  tendered  the  delegates  by  Reid  Christian 
College  and  Isabella  Thoburn  College,  and  was 
attended  by  200  Moslems.  The  chairman. 
Major  Syed  Hassan  Bilgrami,  M.D.,  made  a  re- 
markable address  praising  the  efforts  of  mis- 
sionary education  *  *  from  the  days  of  Carey  and 
Marshman  .  .  .  education  not  divorced  from 
moral  teaching.  .  .  .  The  quality  of  their  teach- 
ing has  been  of  a  very  high  order  and  foremost 
throughout  the  world"  He  mentioned  among 
the  finest  institutions  for  education  in  the  whole 
world,  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  at  Beirut 
and  Robert  College,  Constantinople. 

It  is  still  more  noteworthy  and  indicative  of 
this  new  spirit  of  tolerance  and  appreciation 
that  Al-Mueyyad,  the  leading  Moslem  daily  in 
Cairo  and  in  the  Moslem  world,  welcomed  the 
proposal  of  a  Cairo  Christian  university  and 
prophesied  a  great  future  for  it,  "although  we 
know  that  the  college  will  be  established  in 
the  name  of  evangelism  and  be  guided  by  the 


224.    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

missionaries/'^  Most  educated  Moslems  fully 
understand  that  the  old  weapons  of  intolerance 
and  violence  have  had  their  day,  and  that  a 
new  era  of  liberty  and  enlightenment  has  come. 
When  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  in 
Egypt  demanded,  at  its  first  session,  that  the 
Ministry  of  Education  should  keep  watch  over 
mission  schools  and  prevent  Christian  mission- 
aries from  teaching  the  fundamentals  of  their 
faith  to  Moslem  pupils,  the  demand  was  mocked 
and  bitterly  opposed,  so  that  no  action  was 
taken. 

'*The  Mohammedans  of  Persia  recently 
showed  strange  inconsistency.  For  some 
months  there  was  great  opposition  in  Ispahan 
to  the  educational  work  of  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society.  The  missionaries  were  forbidden 
to  open  the  new  school  premises,  and  yet  when 
it  was  opened  the  Deputy  Governor  was  present 
to  give  away  the  prizes.  Parents  and  boys  were 
threatened  to  such  an  extent  that  the  number  of 
boys  attending  the  college  dwindled  from  eighty 
to  twenty,  and  then  one  day  in  May  the  chief 
Mohammedan  mullah  of  the  city  addressed  a 
crowded  congregation  in  one  of  the  chief 
mosques  and  declared  that  the  English  had  come 


*  Al-Mueyyad,  June  7,  1914.  Cf.  on  the  other  hand  the  bitter 
attack  on  Beirut  College  and  the  evil  results  of  Christian  edu- 
cation that  appeared  in  Ash-Sha'ah,  a  nationalist  organ  of 
Cairo,  on  June  23,  1914. 


ST.  DAVID'S  BUILDING,  CAIRO. 

This  structure  now  occupies  the  site  formerly  used  for  El  Dausa.  In  this 
building  are  the  headquarters  of  the  Y.M.C.A.,  and  directly  opposite  is  the 
Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  and  my  home.     (See  illustration  opposite  page  38.) 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  S25 

to  stay,  that  they  were  doing  a  good  work,  and 
the  people  had  better  not  interfere ! ' ' 

Without,  therefore,  in  any  way  underestimat- 
ing the  new  anti-Christian  attitude  of  some 
educated  Moslems  and  the  pan-Islamic  efforts 
of  others  to  oppose  Christian  missions  by  every 
modern  method  of  attack  or  defence,  it  yet  re- 
mains true  that  the  whole  situation  is  hopeful 
to  the  last  degree.  The  light  is  breaking  every- 
where. 

There  never  was  so  much  friendliness;  such 
willingness  to  discuss  the  question  at  issue ;  such 
a  large  attendance  of  Moslems  at  Christian 
schools,  hospitals,  public  meetings,  and  even 
preaching  services  as  there  is  today.  And  this 
is  true  in  spite  of  public  warnings  against  hav- 
ing dealings  with  Christian  missionaries,  or,  as 
recently  in  Turkey,  systematic  attempts  to  boy- 
cott Christians  commercially.  The  American 
Mission  in  Egypt  has  a  committee  on  evan- 
gelistic work,  which  after  careful  study  has  just 
made  this  report : 

*'At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  Mission  has  there 
been  such  an  urgent  call  for  aggressive  evangelism 
among  all  classes.  The  special  religious  awakening 
among  educated  Moslems  in  all  parts  of  Egypt  has 
brought  upon  us  the  twofold  burden:  First,  how  to 
deal  with  convicted  and  converted  Moslems ;  and,  sec- 
ond, how  to  meet  the  antagonistic  opposition  of  Mos- 
lem societies.    This  awakening  has  brought  about  such 


£26    THE  DISINTEGRATION  OF  ISLAM 

a  spirit  of  inquiry,  with  the  result  that  an  overwhelm- 
ing number  of  Mohammedans  are  prepared  to  hear  the 
Gospel  and  to  study  the  Bible,  that  we  find  ourselves 
insufficient  in  number  and  equipment  to  deal  success- 
fully with  the  present  situation. ' ' 


What  is  true  of  Egypt  is  true,  mutatis 
mutandis,  of  Turkey,  Persia,  India,  Algeria,  and 
Java,  as  abundant  testimony  and  recent  mis- 
sionary correspondence  could  show.  And  what 
does  it  all  mean  ?  It  means  that  we  should  press 
forward  with  all  our  might  plans  for  the  im- 
mediate evangelization  of  these  educated 
classes.  They  are  adrift,  and  the  Gospel  alone 
can  give  them  new  anchorage.  They  are  hun- 
gry for  the  friendship  that  does  not  patronize 
and  the  love  that  can  forgive.  They  have  lost 
faith  in  the  old  Islam  and  reach  out  to  new 
ideals  in  ethics.  Who  can  satisfy  them  but 
Christ?  This  is  our  supreme  opportunity.  If 
we  can  win  these  leaders  of  Moslem  thought 
now,  ** Reformed  Islam  will  be  Islam  no  longer'' 
but  an  open  door  into  Christianity. 

The  Moslem  heart  and  the  Moslem  world  have 
only  one  great  need — Jesus  Christ.  In  Him  is 
the  life  and  the  life  is  the  light  of  men. 
**The  fresh  breath  of  Jesus,''  as  Jalalu'd 
Din,  the  Moslem  mystic,  called  it,  is  proving 
and  will  evermore  prove  the  only  real  vital 
force : 


ATTITUDE  TO  CHRIST  227 

And  granite  man's  heart  is  till  grace  intervene 
And  crushing  it  clothe  the  long  barren  with  green, 
When  the  fresh  breath  of  Jesus  shall  touch  the  heart's  core 
It  will  live,  it  will  breathe,  it  will  blossom  once  more." 


In  the  present  conditions  and  opportunities 
that  confront  the  Church  of  God  throughout  the 
whole  Moslem  world  we  face  a  new  and  grave 
responsibility.  It  can  only  be  met  by  the  out- 
pouring of  life  in  loving  service,  by  sacrificial 
obedience  to  that  last  command  of  our  Saviour, 
and  by  the  immediate,  sympathetic,  tactful  but 
also  fearless  and  direct  proclamation  of  the 
Gospel  by  word  and  by  deed  everywhere. 


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of  Mohammed."     (London,  1899— Calcutta,  1902.) 

Arnold,  T.  W.    "Preaching  of  Islam."     (Westminster,  1896.) 

Badger,  George  Percy.    "  Imans  and  Seyyids  of  Oman."     ( Lon- 
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Badruddin     Tyabji.       "  Principles     of     Mohammedan     Law." 
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Blunt,  Wilfrid  Scawen.     "The  Future  of  Islam."      (London, 
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Burckhardt,  John.     "  Notes  on  the  Bedouins  and  Wahabys." 
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Buxton,    Chas.    Roden.      "Turkey    in   Revolution."      (London 
and  Leipsic,  1909.) 

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Davenport,    John.      "An    Apology    for    Mohammed    and    the 
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229 


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Field,  Claud.  "The  Confessions  of  Al  Ghazzali."  (London, 
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Hurgronje,  C.  Snouck.  "  The  Holy  War :  *  Made  in  Germany.'  " 
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Insabato,  Enrico,  and  Alexander  Ular.  "  Der  Erloschende 
Halbmond."      (Frankfurt,    1909.) 

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Koelle,  S.  W.  "Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism."  (Lon- 
don, 1889.) 

Kyriakos  Mikhail.  "  Copts  and  Moslems  under  British  Con- 
trol."     (London,   1911.) 

Loti,  Pierre.     "  D^senchant^es."     (London,  1906.) 

English     translation     "  Disenchanted."       ( New     York, 

1906.) 
"Turkey  in  Agony."     (London,  1913.) 

Macdonald,  Duncan  Black.    "Aspects  of  Islam."     (New  York, 
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Theory."     (New  York,  1903.) 
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Mallik,  Manmath  C.     "Orient  and  Occident."      (London  and 
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Minar,  El,  (Cairo.) 

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Nawawi.  Minhaj  and  Talibin.  "A  Manual  of  Muhammadan 
Law  According  to  the  School  of  Shafii.  Translated 
from  the  French  edition  of  L.  W.  C.  Van  den  Berg 
into  English  by  E.  C.  Howard.     (London,  1914.) 

Opitz,  Karl.    "Die  Medizin  im  Koran."     (Stuttgart,  1906.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  ^Bl 

Orr,   Capt.   C.   W.   J.     "The  Making  of  Northern  Nigeria." 
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Palgrave,  William  GiflFord.  "Central  and  Eastern  Arabia." 
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(London,  1897.) 

Rushdi  Pasha,  Mme.     "  Les  R6pudi6es."     ( Paris,  1908. ) 

Scott,  James  Harry.  "The  Law  AflFecting  Foreigners  in 
Egypt."      (Edinburgh,  1908.) 

Servier,  Andr6.  "  Le  Nationalisme  Musulman."  ( Constantine, 
1913.) 

Shuster,  W.  Morgan.  "The  Strangling  of  Persia."  (New 
York,    1912.) 

Simon,  Gottfried.  "  The  Progress  and  Arrest  of  Islam  in 
Sumatra."    (London,  Edinburgh,  and  New  York,  1912.) 

Smith,  R.  Bosworth.  "  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism." 
(London,  1889.) 

Ular,  Alexander,  and  Enrico  Insabato.  "  Der  Erloschende 
Halbmond.     (Frankfurt,  1909.) 

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sionaries.     (London,   1915.) 

Wellsted,  Lieut.  J.  R.  "Travels  in  Arabia."  2  Vols.  (Lon- 
don,  1838.) 

Whinfield,  F.  H.  "  Masnavi  i  Ma'navi,  The  Spiritual  Couplets 
of  Maulana  Jalalu-'d'-Dfn  Muhammad  Rlimi."  (Lon- 
don,  1898.) 

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Wilson,  S.  G.  "  Modern  Movements  Among  Moslems."  ( New 
York,  1916.) 

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the  Conference.     (Edinburgh,  1910.) 

Zwemer,  Samuel  M.     "  Arabia :  The  Cradle  of  Islam."     ( New 
York  and  London,  1900.) 
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New  York,  1912.) 


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ARTHUR    J.    BROKEN,     P.P.  Author  ,f" Th*F»rtien 

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KIYOSHI  K.  KAIVAKAMI  Author  of  ''American 

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The  Evolution  of  a  Missionary 

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PROBLEMS  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE,  Etc. 

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Dr.  Atkins'  main  contention  is  that  the  only  way  to  insure 
a  lasting  peace  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  is  by  eliminat- 
ing the  causes  of  war.  A  thoughtful,  ably-written  essay,  con- 
taining suggestions  for  the  pacification  of  the  world,  of  real 
fend  practical   value. 

THOMAS  CAPEK  (Editor) 

Bohemia  Under  Hapshurg  Misrule 

A  Study  of  the  Ideals  and  Aspirations  of  the  Bo- 
hemian and  Slovak  Peoples  as  Related  to  and  Af- 
fected by  the  European  War.    i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

"The  whole  forms  a  fairly  complete  survey  of  the  character, 
achievements,  and  aspirations  of  Bohemians,  past  and  pres- 
ent."—AT.   y.  Times. 

HENRY  P.  ESTABROOK 

The  Vengeance  of  the  Flag 

And  Other  Occasional  Addresses.    8vo,  net  $2.00. 

"This  man  Estabrook — he  is  a  surpriser.  Takes  a  man's 
breath  away  to  read  his  speeches.  A  man  can't  let  go  when 
he  has  once  laid  hold.  It's  like  grasping  the  poles  of  a  bat- 
tery."— Omaha  Mercury. 

COMPARATIVE  RELIGIONS 

SAMUEL  G.  WILSON,  A.M.,  P.P. 


Bahaism  and  Its  Claims 

A  Study  of  the  Religions  Promulgated  by  Baha 
Ullah  and  Abdul  Baha.    8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

Bahaism  is  a  revolt  from  the  fold  of  Islam  which  in  recent 
years  has  been  bidding  vigorously  for  the  support  of  Occidental 
minds.  Many  of  its  principles  are  culled  from  the  Christian 
religion  which  it  insidiously  seeks  to  supplant.  What  this 
Oriental  cult  is,  what  it  stands  for,  and  what  it  aims  at,  is  told 
in  a  volume  which  forms  a  notable  addition  to  the  History  of 
Comparative  Religions. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


M.    WILMA  STUBBS 

How  Europe  Was  Won  for  Chribtiaiiity 

Illustrated.     i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

ITie  story  of  the  first  seventeen  centuries  of  Christianity  is 
here  told  in  the  lives  of  the  great  missionaries  of  the  church 
beginning  with  St.  Paul.  So  far  as  we  are  aware  no  single 
volume  containing  so  complete  a  collection  of  the  lives  of  these 

Kioneers  in  missionary  work  has  before  been  published. 
Iis3  Stubbs  has  done  a  very  real  and  important  service  to 
the  cause  of  missions  in  making  the  lives  of  these  great  men 
live  for  the  inspiration  of  younger  generations  of  to-day. 

R.  FLETCHER  MOORSHEAD,  M.B.,  F.R.C.S. 

The  Appeal  of  Medical  Missions 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

Ihe  author  is  Secretarv  of  the  Medical  Mission  Auxiliary 
of  the  British  Baptist  Mission  Society  and  Baptist  Zenana 
Mission.  He  gives  a  general  survejr  of  the  main  consider- 
ations upon  which  the  Medical  Mission  enterprise  is  based, 
presenting  a  true  conception  of  the  need,  value  and  importance 
of  this  great  work  in  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  Dr.  Moore- 
head  knows  his  subject  well  and  he  gives  a  wealth  of  inter- 
esting facts  regarding  The  Character  and  Purpose  of  Medical 
Missions — The  Origin  and  Authority,  Justification,  Need, 
Value — The  Practice  of  Medical  Missions,  Woman's  Sphere 
in  Item,  Training  for,  Home  Base,  Failure,  Appeal,  etc 

JAMES  S.  DENNIS,  D.  D. 

The  Modem  Gall  of  Missions : 

Studies  In  Some  of  the  Larger  Aspects  of  a  Great 
Enterprise.    8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

"This  is  a  magnificent  presentation  of  the  call  of  missions, 
showing  their  great  and  sweeping  influence  on  human  life 
and  social  progress.  It  is  a  logical  and  searching  study  of 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  as  it  goes  into  other  lands  and  there 
meets  the  facts  and  elements  that  make  up  the  life  of  the 
people.  Dr.  Dennis  has  had  the  personal  experiences  and 
knowledge  which  enable  him  to  speak  with  authority.  An 
exceedingly  valuable  contribution  to  the  missionary  literature 
of  the  day." — Herald  and   Presbyter. 

ARCHIBALD  McLEAN 

Epoch  Makers  of  Modem  Missions 

Illustrated,  i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

The  author  of  "Where  the  Book  Speaks,"  has  given  in 
these  "College  of  Missions  Lectures"  a  series  of  sketches  of 
modern  missionary  leaders  which  for  clearness,  brevity, 
directness  of  style  and  inspirational  value,  have  rarely  been 
surpassed.  Each  characterization  is  truly  "much  in  little," 
and  the  book  is  a  distinct  and  most  acceptable  addition  t« 
missionary  biogr'^phy. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


GEORGE  F.  HERRICK,  D.D, 

fiStj  Ytars  Misjitnaty  ^f  the  American  Board  in  Turi^ 

Christian  and  Mohammedan 

A  Plea  for  Bridging  the  Chasm.  Illustrated,  net  $1.25. 

"Dr.  Herrick  has  given  his  life  to  missionary  work  among 
the  Mohammedans.  Opinions  from  leading  missionaries  to 
Mohammedans,  in  all  parts  of  the  world  have  been  brought 
together  in  the  book  for  the  elucidation  of  essential  points 
of  the  problem  and  form  an  immensely  practical  feature  of 
the  discussion." — Henry  Otis  DwigJit,  LL.D. 

JAMES  L.  BARTON,   D.  D. 

Human  Progress  Through  Missions 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  50c. 

By  the  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  American  Board.  The 
book  IS  a  notable  addition  to  the  apologetics  of  Missions  and 
will  carry  a  message  of  conviction  to  many  a  reader  who 
tnay  not  be  fully  persuaded  of  the  value  and  necessity  of 
Christian  work  in  foreign  lands. 
ALICE  M,  GUERNSEY 

A  Queen  Esther  Round  Robin 

Decorated  Paper,  in  Envelope,  net  25c. 

"It  was  a  pretty  conceit  to  have  a  disbanding  mission 
circle  keep  up  their  mutual  connection  by  writing  a  "round 
robin."  It  is  just  the  thing  for  girls'  mission  bands."— 
S.  S.  Times. 

S.  M.  ZWEMER,  F.R.G.S. 

Arabia :  The  Cradle  of  Islam 

Studies  in  the  Geography,  People  and  Politics  of 
the  Peninsula;  with  an  account  of  Islam  and  Mis- 
sionary Work.  New  Edition,  Illustrated.  8vo, 
Cloth,  net  $2.00. 

ANSTICE  ABBOTT 

The  Stolen  Bridegroom    EASTiS)2S?fDvui 

Illustrated,  i2mo,  cloth,  net  7Sc. 
The  author  has  vividljr  portrayed  some  of  the  ways  in 
which  Christ  enters  the  Hindu  heart;  Just  the  book  to  rea# 
in  the  auxiliary  society  or  to  bring  into  the  reading  club.**— 
Mission  Studies. 

Children's  Missionary  Series 

Cloth,  decorated,  each,  net  60c. 
New   Volumes. 
Children  of  Persia.  Mrs.  Napier  Malcolm. 
Children  of  Borneo.    Edwin  H.  Gomes. 

Each  volume  is  written  by  an  authority  on  the  countries 
represented  as  well  as  by  a  writer  who  knows  how  to  tell 
ft  Story  that  will  both  entertain  and  instruct  chil(\rea. 


TRAVEL  AND  DESCRIPTION 

S.    HALL  YOUNG,   P.P. 

Alaska  Days  with  John  Muir 

Illustrated,  i2mo,  cloth,  net  $i.oo. 

Men  who  knew  John  M-uir,  the  explorer  and  naturalist, 
counted  that  privilege  as  among  the  best  life  had  to  offer. 
The  author  not  only  knew  him  but  accompanied  him  on  his 
journeys  and  exploration  trips  through  the  frozen  country  of 
Alaska,  The  book  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  this  life,  which 
is  full  of  thrills  which  a  writer  of  fiction  might  well  envy. 

FRANCIS  E.    CLARK,   P.P. 

The  Continent  of  Opportunity 

The  South  American  Republics — ^Their  History, 
Their  Resources,  Their  Outlook.  Nezv  and  Revised 
Edition.  Profusely  Illustrated.  i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

A  new  edition  of  Dr.  Clark's  vivid  account  of  his  South 
American  journey,  which,  in  view  of  the  present  interest  in 
these  tropics  will  meet  an  increased  demand. 

SAMUEL    M.    ZJVEMERy    F.R.G.S.     Auth»r$f^ Arabia  "etc. 

Childhood  in  the  Moslem  World 

Illustrated,  8vo,  cloth,  net  $2.00. 

The  author  of  "Arabia,  the  Cradle  of  Islam,"  has  written  a 
plea  for  Mohammedan  childhood.  The  illustrations,  made 
from  a  remarkable  collection  of  photographs,  are  profuse  and 
of  splendid  quality.  The  claims  of  millions  of  children  living 
and  dying  under  the  blighting  influence  of  Islam  are  set  forth 
with  graphic  fidelity.  Both  in  text  and  illustrations.  Dr. 
Zwemer's  new  book  covers  much  ground  hitherto  lying  un- 
touched in  Mohammedan  literature. 

HERBERT  PITTS 

Children  of  Wild  Australia 

Childrens'  Missionary  Series.  i2mo,  cloth,  Illus- 
trated, colors,  net  60c. 

A  new  volume  of  the  familiar  Childrens'  Missionary  Series. 
It  deals  with  the  uncivilized  portion  of  Australia,  and  like  the 
other  volumes  in  the  Series,  it  is  written  by  one  who  knows  how 
to  tell  a  story  that  will  both  entertain  and  instruct  children. 

"THE  STRANGER  WITHIN  OUR  GATES" 

EPWARP    A.     STEINER  Author  ,f^'Onth*  Trail  •/ 

"'"^^■~~~~~~~~'^~'"~~~~~~^"~~  the  Immigrant" 

Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

A  series  of  pilgrimages  undertaken  by  an  educated  j&uropean 
and  the  author,  in  search  of  the  real  American  Spirit  Pro- 
fessor Steiner  presents  an  able  analysis  of  what  he  conceives 
that  spirit  to  be  and  how  it  finds  manifestation  in  aspiration 
and  ideal,  and  of  how  it  is  revealed  and  expressed  in  its  atti- 
tude to  certain  pressing  national  and  international  problems. 


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